Kazahstan Astana. Is This Nation The Next “Digital Nomad” Hotspot?
Astana. Is This Nation The Next “Digital Nomad” Hotspot?
Alma Ata must be one of the pleasantest provincial towns in the Soviet Union.
In Kazakh its new name means ‘Father of Apples’, an appellation which it fully merits, for the apples grown there are the finest in size and flavour that I have ever eaten. The central part of the town consists of wide avenues of poplars at right angles to one another.
In some respects, very little has changed. Almaty is still very much a provincial town– quiet, picturesque with tree-lined streets and bazaars.
It’s no longer the capital– that distinction is in a city formerly known as Akmolinsk, which became Akmola, and was then renamed Astana in the 1990s, and renamed again to Nursultan a few months ago.
Almaty is more quaint and traditional than Astana/Nursultan. It’s incredibly cheap.
Gasoline is about 40c per liter, less than $1.50 per gallon.
Kazakhstan’s economy is a one-trick pony. But it’s a great trick… one that has created a lot of wealth.
70% of exports are energy. #1 producer of uranium, with roughly 40% of the world’s supply. Top producer of coal, oil, and gas.
Limited population… smaller than metropolitan Paris, but larger than all of Western Europe combined.
So this has had a hugely beneficial impact that has actually trickled down and created a robust middle class.
You can see a lot of wealth. Nice houses, nice apartments, nice cars. Incredible infrastructure– highways better than what I’ve driven on in North America and Europe.
Despite that economic success and robust growth, this is definitely not a place for a casual entrepreneur. Large scale energy or agricultural project, sure.
What’s really compelling is for people who are location-independent… who can take their work with them and roam from place to place. Tens of millions of people, more and more every day.
Kazakhstan ticks the boxes… sufficient Internet speed (minor censoring that’s easy to get around with VPNs), incredibly cheap.
Good lifestyle– plenty of nightlife, plush shopping malls and restaurants.
Remote, but easy to get to. Air Astana flies to plenty of gateway cities like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Beijing, Dubai, Moscow, etc. plus other major airlines fly to/from Frankfurt, Istanbul.
But there are lots of cheap places with decent Internet.