Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, an autonomous prefecture under the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is a sub-provincial organization. Located in the Ili Valley in the north of Tianshan Mountain in the west of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, it has a temperate continental climate and alpine climate. It is the only autonomous prefecture in China that governs both regions and counties. Ili Prefecture has jurisdiction over 11 county-level administrative regions (prefecture-level). The total area of the prefecture is 268593 square kilometers. According to the data of the seventh population census, as of 0:00 on November 1, 2020, the permanent population of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Region was 2848393.

In Ili Prefecture, there are a number of units directly under the central and autonomous region, such as the Fourth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Divisions of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Ili Normal University, Xinjiang Mining and Metallurgy Bureau, Western Tianshan State-owned Forest Administration of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Altay Mountain State-owned Forest Administration of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Cigarette Factory, Ashi Gold Mine, etc. Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture is the main breeding and production base of Xinjiang fine-wool sheep, Ili horse, Xinjiang brown cattle, and Chinese Merino sheep. There are nine national Class I ports along the border, such as Khorgos, Dulata, and Muzart. The main tourist destinations are Chaxi, Tangbula, Nalati and other grassland folk tourism areas. Cultural relics include Xiate Ancient City, Baozadun Wusun Ancient City, Gedeng Stele and grassland rock paintings.

In 2021, the regional GDP of Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture will be 266.718 billion yuan, up 7.2% from the previous year. Among them, the added value of the primary industry is 69.145 billion yuan, and the added value of the secondary industry is 71.756 billion yuan; The added value of the tertiary industry was 125.817 billion yuan, up 6.3%.