Rivers of Kazakhstan: longest rivers, lengths, basins

The longest rivers in Kazakhstan are the Irtysh (4,248 km), the Ishim, also called Yesil (2,450 km), the Ural, or Zhaiyk (2,428 km), the Syr Darya (about 2,212 km) and the Tobol (1,591 km). These are 2023 figures from the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation. All five cross a border, so total length and length inside Kazakhstan are different numbers.

Length table

Sources agree closely on total length, but not on length inside Kazakhstan: two press reports of the same ministry statement disagree for the Irtysh and the Ishim. If you are citing this, name the source and year.

River	Total, km	In Kazakhstan, km (Tengrinews 2023)	In Kazakhstan, km (Inbusiness 2023)	In Kazakhstan, km (Wikipedia)
Irtysh	4,248	1,698	1,835	1,700
Ishim	2,450	1,779	1,400	1,400
Ural	2,428	1,084	1,084	1,082
Syr Darya	~2,212	1,627	1,627	1,400
Tobol	1,591	800	800	800
Ili	1,439	no figure	no figure	815
Chu (Shu)	1,186	no figure	no figure	800

The five main rivers in brief

From the ministry’s statement, useful if you need a line or two on each.

River	Key facts
Irtysh	the longest and navigable. The Irtysh-Karaganda canal supplies drinking water to three regions
Ishim (Yesil)	the Irtysh’s longest tributary. It rises in the Niyaz hills of Karaganda Region and flows past Astana and Petropavl
Ural (Zhaiyk)	with the Ural Mountains, a conventional boundary between Europe and Asia. About 40 fish species live here
Syr Darya	rises in the Tien Shan. The Greeks called it the Jaxartes and Arabs the Seyhun
Tobol	an Irtysh tributary with about 20,000 lakes in its basin

Eight basins, most of them with no outlet

Kazakhstan is usually divided into eight water basins: Aral-Syr Darya, Balkhash-Alakol, Irtysh, Ural-Caspian, Ishim, Nura-Sarysu, Shu-Talas and Tobol-Turgay. Only three send water to the Arctic: the Irtysh, the Ishim, the Tobol. Everything else ends inland in the Caspian, the Aral, Balkhash or Tengiz.

Among rivers wholly inside the country, Wikipedia’s table lists the Nura at 978 km, the Turgay at 825 km, the Sarysu at 800 km and the Emba at 712 km. The 427 km Charyn is a tributary of the Ili.

Rivers of Almaty and the region

Two rivers cross the city of Almaty, the Bolshaya and the Malaya Almatinka. Both start in the ice of the Ile Alatau and join the Kaskelen, whose water reaches Kapshagay and the Ili. Both valleys carry a mudflow risk, explained in our page on mudflows.

River	Length, km	Where
Malaya Almatinka	125	from the Tuyuksu glaciers, through Medeu
Bolshaya Almatinka	96	the valley below Big Almaty Lake
Esentai	43	a branch, with concrete banks in the city
Ili	1,439, of which 815 in Kazakhstan	the Ili River

Inside the city, these are short and partly channelled. For a real river landscape, head for the Charyn or the Ili.

Where to see the rivers

River	Key facts
Charyn	Charyn Canyon and its ash grove, a day trip from Almaty
Ili	the Ili River, Kapshagay and Lake Balkhash, with the Ile-Balkhash reserve in the delta
Irtysh	the embankments in Oskemen and Pavlodar, and Bukhtarma reservoir
Syr Darya	Shardara and the road to the Aral Sea
Ural	Atyrau and the Akzhaiyk reserve in the delta

For lakes, see lakes of Kazakhstan. For the wider landscape, read about natural zones.

A table by area and volume is on the page about reservoirs in Kazakhstan.

Not verified yet

We could not open the length table from the state water cadastre directly, so we quote the ministry’s press statement and Wikipedia.

Frequently asked questions

What is the longest river in Kazakhstan?

The Irtysh, at 4,248 km in total according to the Ministry of Water Resources in 2023. Only part of it lies in Kazakhstan: it rises in China and joins the Ob in Russia.

Does the Ural River separate Europe and Asia?

The ministry calls the Ural, with the Ural Mountains, a conventional border between Europe and Asia. It runs 2,428 km, about 1,084 km of it in Kazakhstan.

Which rivers reach the ocean?

The Irtysh, Ishim and Tobol belong to the Arctic basin. The other large rivers end in closed basins such as the Caspian, the Aral and Balkhash.