page_title: Sayram (city)
section_title: Demographics
hierarchical_section_title: Sayram (city) / Demographics
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a picture taken of a poster hanging in the Sayram Museum in Sayram city, South Kazakhstan Oblast'. The poster was self-published, and verbal permission given to photograph the poster.
context_page_description: Sayram is a rural locality located in southeastern South Kazakhstan Region on the Sayram Su River, which rises at the nearby 4000-meter mountain Sayram Su. In medieval times, the city and countryside were located on the banks of the Arys River, into which the Sayram Su river flows. It is now a suburb of Shymkent. Population: 30,887; 25,408.
  The city celebrated the 3,000th anniversary of its founding in 1999. It is among the oldest cities in Kazakhstan, site of the first mosque in Kazakhstan, and similarly among the oldest cities in Transoxania. Sayram is significant today for maintaining mud-brick architecture and the absence of Soviet-style architecture. There are many pre-20th-century mausoleums, and more continue to be built.
  Archaeology in Central Asia was active following its conquest by the Russian Empire, but remains a relatively understudied area. There has been some field work done in the city both before and during the rise of the Soviet Union, and there is likewise renewed interest in the city as one of the oldest cities of the independent country of Kazakhstan.
context_section_description: The population of over 40,000 is roughly 95% Uzbek, 3% Kazakh, and 1% Russian, with the remainder being Uzbek-speaking Azeris, Chechens, Tajiks, and Iranians. Sayram is a city of observant Muslims, and the call to prayer can be heard from the city's mosques.
  The economy of Kazakhstan being much stronger than Uzbekistan's, Sayram has seen an increase of migrant laborers from Uzbekistan, as well as those coming to stay as permanent residents.
caption: Sayram's minaret