Olzhas Anafin, Vice Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan, spoke at a press conference at the Central Communications Service under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan about social protection measures for low-income citizens and new approaches to targeted social assistance (hereinafter referred to as TSA), introduced from 2025.
At the beginning of his speech, the Vice Minister noted that families with an average per capita income below the poverty line are provided with TSA, which is aimed at providing comprehensive support to bring citizens out of a difficult life situation.
The TSA provides for:
- quarterly assignment of a cash payment, which is provided on an unconditional and conditional basis. Unconditional assistance is provided to families without able–bodied members, and conditional assistance is provided to families with at least one able-bodied member who can find a job.;
- measures to promote employment. A social contract is signed with the family for the entire period of the TSA appointment. Termination of the contract is the basis for termination of social assistance payments and refusal to appoint a TSA in the next 6 months.;
- provision of monthly additional payments to children from low-income families aged 1 to 6 years inclusive in the amount of 1.5 MCI (5,538 tenge) per child.
As of December 1, 2024, 411.3 thousand people from 77.6 thousand families in the amount of 36.2 billion tenge were appointed as TSA. An additional payment was made to 128.8 thousand preschool children from among the recipients of the TSA in the amount of 5 billion tenge.
"55% of all recipients live in urban areas, and 45% in rural areas. By region, the largest number of TSA recipients is noted in the Turkestan region – 20.3%, Shymkent – 11.3%, Kyzylorda – 8.2%, Almaty – 7.9%, Zhambyl – 7.5% regions and Zhetysu region - 7%. These regions account for 62.2% of all recipients.
In terms of social statuses, children account for the largest number of TSA recipients – 273.9 thousand people, or 66.6%. Also among the recipients are people who had a job at the time of application – 14.3%, people who care for children, people with disabilities, the elderly – 12.2%, students – 3.9%, unemployed – 1.4% and other categories – 1.6%," Olzhas Anafin informed.
The Vice Minister stressed that the main goal of the TSA is to lift low-income families out of poverty by motivating them to work and involving able-bodied citizens in employment promotion measures.
"This year, 59.4 thousand people out of 97.6 thousand able–bodied TSA recipients have jobs, 32.5 thousand people are engaged in care, 5.7 thousand are unemployed.
Thanks to the introduction of the social contract, 16 thousand able-bodied people are involved in active employment promotion measures, of which 11.2 thousand people, or 70%, were employed in permanent jobs; 3.5 thousand people, or 22%, were provided with temporary employment measures; 426 people (2.5%) received grants for the development of entrepreneurial initiatives; 300 people (1.9% They are aimed at advanced training, retraining and retraining courses," Olzhas Anafin said.
As a result of the measures taken to provide comprehensive support to low-income families in 2023, 54.3 thousand people from among the recipients of the TSA in the previous year came out of poverty. This year, the number of people who have emerged from poverty has reached 52.5 thousand.
"As you know, in 2023, the Digital Family Map (hereinafter referred to as the CCC) was launched, which determines the level of well–being of Kazakhstani families based on 84 parameters. Based on the data from the CCC, government agencies and akims can analyze the situation in the regions to develop programs for socio-economic development.
This year, the akim's KPI has been implemented to reduce the number of families that are classified into categories D and E according to the indicators of the level of social well-being in the CCC. Akims, together with interested government agencies, are taking measures to transfer families from crisis and emergency categories to more prosperous ones. As of December 17 this year, the number of this contingent decreased by 15%," the Vice Minister noted.
He also said that in accordance with the Social Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, from January 1, 2025, the poverty line for the appointment of TSA will be determined from the median income of the population.
"The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, together with the Bureau of National Statistics, calculated the size of the quarterly median income according to the CCC. According to their results, the poverty line was set at 35% of the median income, but not below the current level, that is, 70% of the regional subsistence level.
It is important to emphasize that the introduction of median income in determining the poverty line will not lead to a reduction in the amount of targeted social assistance. Moreover, it is expected that the number of TSA recipients will increase by 755 families, or over 3.8 thousand people," said Olzhas Anafin.
The Vice Minister added that in 2025, the digitization of the activities of precinct commissions will also be carried out, which issue conclusions on the need for families to provide TSA based on surveys of the financial situation. The FSM Social mobile application has been developed for these commissions. Its advantages are: determination of geolocation (the real geographical location of the applicant); prompt decision-making and simplification of the procedure for issuing an opinion; exclusion of a formal approach when conducting an examination and making a decision. The mobile application has been tested in a pilot mode in Konaev, Almaty region. Starting from January 2025, it is planned to introduce FSM Social throughout the country.
He also recalled that on February 7 this year, at an expanded Government meeting, the Head of State instructed to take measures to improve the mechanism for providing social assistance to the population, taking into account the determination of the total incomes and expenses of really needy citizens.
"In pursuance of this instruction, amendments to the Social Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan have been developed, which have been sent to the Government for consideration. When appointing a TSA, it is proposed to take into account the following types of expenses of citizens: purchase of a home and (or) a car in ownership; registration of bank loans and (or) microcredits, with the exception of a mortgage loan in the amount of more than one subsistence minimum per family member per month; availability of spending transactions on the bank accounts of a person (family), collectively exceeding the poverty line for each family member per month; the presence of a savings deposit, a deposit of more than 200 MCI per family, with the exception of a mortgage deposit.
Starting from January 1, 2025, it is planned to launch a pilot project to test the mechanism for accounting expenses of citizens applying for TSA, with their consent," Olzhas Anafin informed.
The Vice Minister also spoke about the algorithm for obtaining information on income and expenses of citizens from second-tier banks when appointing TSA.
"The applicant, applying to the authorized body for obtaining the TSA, submits an application for participation in the pilot project. After that, an SMS notification is sent to all adult members of the applicant's family to their personal phone numbers from the number 1414, to which they must respond within one business day.
Collection of information on cash flow is carried out only after obtaining consent from the applicant and his family members through the information systems of government agencies and second-tier banks in an aggregated form. If the availability of spending transactions on bank accounts does not exceed the poverty line, the TSA is assigned in accordance with current legislation," he explained.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/enbek/press/news/details/910809