Kostanay Region Ranks Among the Top 5 Regions in Digital Development

This was announced by Regional Governor Kumar Aksakalov at a meeting held at the regional Akimat. The meeting focused on the interim results of the work carried out in the region as part of the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, as well as achievements in digital development and upcoming priorities.
Presentations were delivered by Azamat Kashiev, Head of the Department of Informatization, Public Service Delivery and Archives; Damir Mnaydarov, Director of Qostanai Hub; and Assel Abakova, Director for Cooperation with Government Agencies at the Republican Association for Artificial Intelligence.
The Head of State has declared 2026 the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence. Furthermore, in his 2025 Address to the Nation, the President set the goal of transforming Kazakhstan into a fully-fledged digital country within the next three years.
The number of IT companies in the region has increased from 318 in 2022 to 362. The average salary of industry specialists has grown almost 1.5 times compared to 2023, reaching KZT 467,000 in August this year.
In 2025, the volume of cashless payments in the region reached KZT 3.1 trillion, an increase of 55% compared to 2022. The share of cashless payments in the region's total payment volume rose from 74.8% in 2022 to 84.6% in the current year.
While businesses allocated more than KZT 10 billion for digital technologies in 2022, this figure reached KZT 18.4 billion in 2025. In the first half of this year alone, KZT 9.8 billion was allocated for these purposes.
"The level of digital literacy among the population increased from 82.9% in 2023 to 92.3% in 2025. According to the PISA 2025 study, students from our region ranked third nationwide in solving digital tasks. Our region has entered the top five regions in terms of digital development. Over the past two years, the share of large and medium-sized enterprises using digital technologies has doubled, increasing from 23.9% in 2023 to 45.8% in 2025. Kostanay Region ranks first in Kazakhstan in terms of industrial digitalization. While there were only two industrial robots in 2023, their number has reached 150 over the past three years," the Regional Governor noted.
In the agro-industrial sector, automated production lines and digital systems have been introduced at dairy farms. The next priority is to expand the use of digital solutions in crop production, implement smart irrigation systems and increase the use of drones.