Big, empty and difficult to spell, Kazakhstan is a country that copes admirably in the face of adversity. Like many other ex-Soviet states, nobody seems entirely sure whether it is a democracy. Yet, in just fifteen years, it developed a written constitution, supreme court and bicameral legislature; its peace and harmony seems relatively unhindered by a President with an awkward tendency to bar his opponents from elections.

So, to celebrate this success and the emergence of a new world power, we felt it was time to educate the masses with ten reasons to love Kazakhstan.

1. Peace

On paper, Kazakhstan looks to be a hugely divided nation. Its official language is Russian, an inheritance from the Soviet era, while the local language is Kazakh. The population is half Muslim and half Orthodox; half Kazakh and one third Russian with smatterings of Ukrainians and Uzbeks. A few thousand Germans also live in the country, the remnants of Stalin's deportations after the Second World War. Yet, ethnic tensions remain low and, in contrast to many states created in the 20th century after the fall of an empire, there has been no sign of civil war.

2. Treasure

A quick description of the Kazakh landscape does not sound hopeful: earthquakes in the south, mudslides in the east, severe industrial pollution, dried river beds, radioactive sites left over from Soviet defence projects and the occasional noxious dust storm. Only 11 per cent of the country's land is for arable use, with the rest ominously classified as 'other'. However, the country is surprisingly rich in resources, including gas, coal, iron, manganese, chrome, nickel, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, bauxite, gold and – best of all – uranium.

3. Tiger

Largely thanks to these natural resources, analysts identify Kazakhstan as the first of a new breed of Asian tiger economies. After the recession of the early 1990s, the government instigated reforms that led to economic growth of 13.2 per cent in 2000 to 2001, and 9.5 per cent the year after. In both years, Kazakhstan was one of the world's fastest growing economies. Of course, one of the reasons for this growth was because . . .

4. Oily

. . . what is thought to be the world's biggest oil field was discovered there in 2002. Specialists believe the offshore Kashagan field, in the Caspian Sea, contains about 40 billion barrels of the black stuff. Western governments, keen to reduce their dependency on the Middle East, have snuggled up to the Kazakhs ever since. There are also plans to construct an oil pipeline to China later this year. The upshot is . . .

5. Popular

. . . everybody wants a piece of Kazakhstan. Most world leaders still get Tajikistan mixed up with Turkmenistan, and requests for the correct spelling of Kyrgyzstan are likely to be met with blank looks and the question: "Is that a real place?" However, Kazakhstan has a close working relationship with Russia, a strategic partnership with China and a long-term commitment to allegiance with the US. Even Mrs Thatcher tried to get in on the game, she wrote to President Nazarbayev last year to congratulate him on his success. Nobody knows why.

6. Rails

Kazakhstan's recent invite to the cool kid's table indicates the country will become a bridge between East and West. In a physical manifestation of this role, the next few years will see the development of a 3,000km rail link across its territory, a track that links China and Iran to Europe. The link will make it a lot quicker to get freight from Asia; a journey that currently takes 50 days by sea and 15 days on the Trans-Siberian Express will now be possible in just eight.

7. Green

Given the importance of oil to the Kazakh economy, it is unsurprising that Kazakhstan relies on fossil fuels for almost 85 per cent of its electricity. But, in a surprisingly long-sighted arrangement for an oil-rich nation, the rest comes from the more sustainable source of hydropower. Fifteen per cent does not sound like much, until you consider that Britain gets less than 1 per cent of its electricity this way: Britain, instead, opts for a combination of fossil fuels and nuclear power. However, this is not a major problem because . . .

8. Cleaners

. . . Kazakhstan imports nuclear waste from the EU. At a cost of $5,000 per 200-litre barrel, the country agrees to store our mess until it becomes harmless 1,000 years from now. From this, the country makes a profit of around $4,000 a barrel; ironically, they use the money to pay for cleaning up their own nuclear waste mountain. More than 220 million tonnes of the stuff still remains from the USSR days, and will cost $1.1 billion to clean up. Although this may seem like a horrible way of propping up a national economy, it beats dumping the stuff just off the M25.

9. Space

Kazakhstan played an important role in the history of exploration in 1961, when Yuri Gagarin traveled into space from the country's Baikonur Cosmodrome, a space launch centre. More recently, Britain's own Beagle 2 launched from the site, bound for Mars. Still, we cannot blame the Kazakhs for that disaster.

10. Bumps

Boasting a landmass five times the size of France, with a population figure similar to the Netherlands, Kazakhstan is not an easy place to go sightseeing. Thankfully, the country's 488 airports make local trips easier. What's more, where 334 British airports have paved runways, only 60 Kazakh ones do - making every trip to Kazakhstan an adventure!