ALMATY – Almaty and Astana are likely to retain their position as Central Asia’s leading economic centers, even as Tashkent and Bishkek record rapid growth and invest heavily in their future expansion. Kazakhstan’s two largest cities benefit from an economic scale, financial infrastructure and established business ecosystems that have been built up over decades, reported the Times of Central Asia.
Almaty has long combined Kazakhstan’s commercial and political functions and established itself as Central Asia’s leading business center. After Astana became the country’s capital, the two cities gradually developed more complementary roles. Almaty remained the region’s main business and financial hub, while Astana accumulated political, institutional and corporate weight.
Updated figures show Astana’s economy grew by about 10% in 2025, while Almaty recorded growth of about 5%. Together, the two cities generated nearly $107 billion in economic output last year. Their position is supported by Kazakhstan’s broader economic weight. The country accounts for more than half of Central Asia’s GDP and nearly two-thirds of the region’s inward FDI stock, according to The Times of Central Asia’s Central Asia Balance Sheet.
That larger economic base provides greater fiscal capacity for infrastructure and urban development, which in turn supports business activity. Kazakhstan also has the region’s most developed capital markets. The Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) in Almaty and the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) and Astana International Exchange (AIX) in Astana provide companies with access to equity and debt financing, institutional investors and financial infrastructure on a scale not currently available elsewhere in Central Asia.
Kazakhstan is also the only Central Asian country with an investment-grade sovereign rating. That status can reduce the country-risk premium and financing costs for companies and projects compared with lower-rated regional markets. Tashkent and Bishkek are also growing rapidly Tashkent is the most significant challenger to Kazakhstan’s two leading cities.
Uzbekistan’s political and commercial capital had an economy of about $29 billion in 2025, nearly 40% the size of Almaty’s and about three-quarters that of Astana. Its growth rate, however, has been considerably higher. Tashkent’s real GRP increased by 11.3% in 2025, according to preliminary national figures.
Tashkent also benefits from Uzbekistan’s demographic scale. The country’s population is almost twice that of Kazakhstan, giving its capital access to a considerably larger domestic market and labor pool. That advantage comes with its own demands. A larger and growing population requires continuous investment in employment, housing, transport and other infrastructure.
If productivity and investment do not keep pace with demographic growth, population size can become a constraint rather than an economic advantage. The difference in economic output per resident remains substantial. In 2025, GRP per capita stood at approximately $29,900 in Almaty and $23,700 in Astana, compared with about $9,300 in Tashkent.
These figures measure economic output per resident rather than labor productivity, household income or living standards, but they nevertheless illustrate the difference in the economic scale of the cities. Bishkek is growing from a considerably smaller base. Its economy was only about 30% the size of Tashkent’s in the reporting years used here, although the Kyrgyz capital recorded real GRP growth of 15.8% in 2024.