Map of Belarus | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide19891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023 | More stats

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Background: After seven decades as a constituent republic of the USSR Belarus attained its independence in 1991. It has retained closer political and economic ties to Russia than any of the other former Soviet republics. Belarus and Russia signed a treaty on a two-state union on 8 December 1999 envisioning greater political and economic integration but to date neither side has actively sought to implement the accord.


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Location: Eastern Europe east of Poland

Geographic coordinates: 53 00 N 28 00 E

Map reference: Commonwealth of Independent States

Area
Comparative: slightly smaller than Kansas

Land boundaries

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

Climate: cold winters cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime

Terrain: generally flat and contains much marshland

Elevation

Natural resources: forests peat deposits small quantities of oil and natural gas

Land use

Irrigated land: 1000 km² (1993 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: NA

Geography
Note: landlocked


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Population: 10,366,719 (July 2000 est.)
Growth rate: -0.17% (2000 est.)
Below poverty line: 22% (1995 est.)

Nationality

Ethnic groups: Byelorussian 77.9% Russian 13.2% Polish 4.1% Ukrainian 2.9% other 1.9%

Languages: Byelorussian Russian other

Religions: Eastern Orthodox 80% other (including Roman Catholic Protestant Jewish and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.)

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: -0.17% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 9.27 births/1000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 13.96 deaths/1000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 3.01 migrant(s)/1000 population (2000 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl' in northern Ukraine

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 14.63 deaths/1000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total fertility rate: 1.25 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name

Government type: republic

Capital: Minsk

Administrative divisions: 6 voblastsi (singular - voblasts') and one municipality* (harady singular - horad); Brestskaya (Brest) Homyel'skaya (Homyel') Horad Minsk* Hrodzyenskaya (Hrodna) Mahilyowskaya (Mahilyow) Minskaya Vitsyebskaya (Vitsyebsk)

Dependent areas

Independence: 25 August 1991 (Belarusian Supreme Soviet declaration of independence from the Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day 3 July (1944); note - represents Minsk liberation from German occupation

Constitution: 30 March 1994; revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November 1996

Legal system: based on civil law system

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Natsionalnoye Sobranie consists of the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64 seats; eight appointed by the president and 56 indirectly elected by deputies of local councils for four-year terms) and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata Pretsaviteley (110 seats; note - present members came from the former Supreme Soviet which LUKASHENKO disbanded in November 1996)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court judges are appointed by the president; Constitutional Court half of the judges appointed by the president and half appointed by the Chamber of Representatives

Political parties and leaders: Agrarian Party [Aleksandr PAVLOV acting chairman]; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB [Viktor CHIKIN chairman]; Belarusian Green Party or BPZ [Mikalay KARTASH chairman]; Belarusian Labor Party or BPP [Aleksandr BUKHVOSTOV chairman]; Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR [Anatoliy BARANKEVICH chairman]; Belarusian Popular Front or BNF [Vintsuk VYACHORKA chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democrat or SDBP [Nikolay STATKEVICH chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party Hramada [Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH chairman]; Belarusian Social Sports Party or BSSP [Aleksandr ALEKSANDROVICH chairman]; Belarusian Socialist Party [Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV]; Civic Accord Bloc (United Civic Party) or CAB [Stanislav BOGDANKEVICH chairman]; Ecological Party or BEP [Liudmila YELIZAROVA chairperson]; Liberal-Democratic Party or LDPB [Sergei GAYDUKEVICH chairman]; Party of All-Belarusian Unity and Concord or UPNAZ [Dmitriy BULAKOV chairman]; Party of Communists Belarusian or PKB [Sergei KALYAKIN chairman]; Party of Popular Accord or PPA [Leanid SECHKA]; Republican Party of Labor and Justice or RPPS [Anatoliy NETYLKIN chairman]; Women's Party Nadezhda [Valentina POLEVIKOVA chairperson]

International organization participation: CCC CEI CIS EAPC EBRD ECE IAEA IBRD ICAO ICRM IFC IFRCS ILO IMF Inmarsat Intelsat (nonsignatory user) Interpol IOC IOM (observer) ISO ITU NAM OPCW OSCE PCA PFP UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UPU WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: red horizontal band (top) and green horizontal band one-half the width of the red band; a white vertical stripe on the hoist side bears the Belarusian national ornament in red

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Belarus has seen little structural reform since 1995 when President LUKASHENKO launched the country on the path of 'market socialism.' In keeping with this policy LUKASHENKO re-imposed administrative controls over prices and currency exchange rates and expanded the state's right to intervene in the management of private enterprise. In addition to the burdens imposed by high inflation businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of central and local governments e.g. arbitrary changes in regulations numerous rigorous inspections and retroactive application of new business regulations prohibiting practices that had been legal. Further economic problems are two consecutive bad harvests 1998-99 and persistent trade deficits. Close relations with Russia possibly leading to reunion color the pattern of economic developments. For the time being Belarus remains self-isolated from the West and its open-market economies.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 1.5% (1999 est.)

Real gdp per capita ppp

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: grain potatoes vegetables sugar beets flax; beef milk

Industries: metal-cutting machine tools tractors trucks earth movers motorcycles TV sets chemical fibers fertilizer textiles radios refrigerators

Industrial production growth rate: 8% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 4.3 million (1998)
By occupation industry and construction: NA%
By occupation agriculture and forestry: NA%
By occupation services: NA%

Unemployment rate: 2.3% officially registered unemployed (December 1998); large number of underemployed workers

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 22% (1995 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget

Public debt

Taxes and other revenues

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Current account balance

Inflation rate consumer prices: 295% (1999 est.)

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $6 billion (f.o.b. 1999)
Commodities: machinery and equipment chemicals metals textiles foodstuffs
Partners: Russia 66% Ukraine Poland Germany Lithuania (1998)

Imports: $6.4 billion (c.i.f. 1999)
Commodities: mineral products machinery and equipment metals chemicals foodstuffs
Partners: Russia 54% Ukraine Germany Poland Lithuania (1998)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $1.1 billion (1998 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Belarusian rubels per US$1 - 730,000 (15 December 1999) 139,000 (25 January 1999) 46,080 (2nd qtr 1998) 25,964 (1997) 15,500 (yearend 1996) 11,500 (yearend 1995)


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Electricity access

Electricity production: 21.893 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity consumption: 28.66 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity exports: 2.3 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity imports: 10.6 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity installed generating capacity

Electricity transmission distribution losses

Electricity generation sources

Petroleum

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones fixed lines

Telephones mobile cellular: 8,000 (1999)

Telephone system: the Ministry of Telecommunications controls all telecommunications through its carrier (a joint stock company) Beltelcom which is a monopoly

Broadcast media

Internet country code

Internet users

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $156 million (FY98)
Percent of gdp: 1.2% (FY98)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 118 (1996 est.)

Airports with paved runways

Airports with unpaved runways

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 1470 km; refined products 1100 km; natural gas 1980 km (1992)

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: NA km; note - Belarus has extensive and widely used canal and river systems

Merchant marine

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: none

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: limited cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis mostly for the domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to and via Russia and to the Baltics and Western Europe