The Kazakh famine of 1919–1922,[1] also referred to as the Turkestan famine of 1919–1922,[3] was a period of mass starvation and drought that took place in the Kirghiz ASSR (present-day Kazakhstan) and Turkestan ASSR as a result of the Russian Civil War,[4][5][6] in which 400,000[1] to 750,000[2] peasants died.

[8][9] The famine was caused by severe intermittent drought conditions, aggravated by the Russian Civil War and the policy of Prodrazvyorstka adopted by the Soviet government.

The greatest percentage of losses of the Kazakh population was in Aktyubinsk, Akmola, Kustanai and Ural provinces.

[1] However, Turar Ryskulov, chairman of the Central Electoral Committee of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, estimated that "about one third of the population must have died", which is equivalent to 750,000 people.

[7] 1923 and 1924 were turning points in the restoration of the national economy and the hardest hitting phase of the famine ended in 1922.