Almaty (Kazakh: Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata, also Vernyj, Vyernyi (Верный) in Imperial Russia) is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of 1,226,000 (as of 1 August 2005) , which represents 8% of the population of the country (unofficial sources claim 2,000,900 and 13% correspondingly ). It was the capital of Kazakhstan (and its predecessor, the Kazakh SSR) from 1929 to 1998. Despite losing its status as the capital, Almaty remains the major commercial center of Kazakhstan.
Almaty is 40 - 50% ethnically Russian. Until the mid-1980s, Kazakhs represented only 12 per cent of Almaty's population, but that figure increased nearly twofold by the end of the decade. According to unofficial statistics, Kazakhs now account for over half of Almaty's two million residents.