Kazakhstan - Economic development

While still a republic of the USSR (prior to independence in 1991), Kazakhstan underwent rapid development of its agricultural and industrial sectors. Vast tracts of land were brought into cultivation with the expansion of irrigation under the USSR's "Virgin Lands" program, while within the industrial sector, development of its metallurgical, mining, and machinery industries were prioritized. Growth in these various economic sectors was fueled by a high labor-force-participation rate in the local population, especially among women, as well as the import of some skilled labor from Russia. By the 1980s, growing problems of inefficiency and inadequate technological development in the overwhelmingly dominant state sector resulted in a flagging rate of growth overall.