Nursultan Nazarbayev was born on July 6, 1940, in the Almaty region. His father was a shepherd.

Education: Technical school in Dneprodzerzhinsk (now Dniprodzerzhynsk), Ukraine, 1960. Technical school of the Karaganda (now Qaraghandy) Metallurgical Combine in Kazakhstan. 1967. Higher Party School in Moscow, 1976.

1960-1977: Intermittently worked as a steelworker and engineer at the Karaganda plant

1962: Joined the Communist Party

1979: Became a full member of the Kazakhstan Politburo

1984-1989: Chairman of the Kazakh Council of Ministers

1989-1991: First secretary of the Kazakh Communist Party

1990-1991: Full member of the Communist Party Politburo

1990: Elected president of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic by the Kazakh Supreme Soviet

1991: Elected president of an independent Kazakhstan

1995: Nazarbayev's term extended to 2000 by referendum

December 1997: Officially moved the capital from Almaty to Astana

1999: Re-elected in early elections

2005: Re-elected with 91.15 percent of the vote. Observers with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the vote was flawed — a criticism that was key in establishing an air of legitimacy for protests that helped bring opposition leaders to power in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan over the preceding two years.

2007: Constitutional amendment exempts Nazarbayev from term limits

2010: Kazakhstan held the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

Mid-2010: Parliament named Nazarbayev "Leader of the Nation," a title that gave him the right to approve important national and foreign policies after he retires and grants him lifetime immunity from prosecution for acts committed during his rule

December 2010: Parliament approved plans for a national referendum that would cancel the next two presidential elections, effectively extending Nazarbayev's term to 2020. Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party holds every seat in the lower house of parliament.

January 2011: The Supreme Court ruled against the December 2010 referendum. Nazarbayev called for early elections.

April 2011: Elected to another term with 95.5 percent of the vote. International monitors reported "serious irregularities," and critics denounced Nazarbayev's authoritarian methods. The OSCE said it had witnessed little progress on promised democratic reform.

Nazarbayev's reforms, high foreign investment and the exploitation of Kazakhstan's vast natural resources — oil, gas and industrial metals — have made the country a regional success story. The per capita gross domestic product of the country, at more than $9,000, has risen 12-fold since 1993 and is on a par with Malaysia. Living standards are the highest in Central Asia, where poverty, ethnic tension, radical Islam and the drug trade unsettle neighbors. This relative prosperity and political stability have guaranteed Nazarbayev a genuinely high degree of popularity in the country.

Nazarbayev has tried to have good relations with both the East and West. Kazakhstan has built strong ties with China and Russia — it is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is dominated by the two countries — but has also contributed troops to the U.S.-led forces in Iraq.