Map of Belarus | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | 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
Total: 207,600 km²
Land: 207,600 km²
Water: 0 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than Kansas

Land boundaries
Total: 3,098 km
Border countries: (5) Latvia 141 km; , Lithuania 502 km; , Poland 605 km; , Russia 959 km; , Ukraine 891 km

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
Extremes lowest point: Nyoman River 90 m
Extremes highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m

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

Land use
Arable land: 29%
Permanent crops: 1%
Permanent pastures: 15%
Forests and woodland: 34%
Other: 21% (1993 est.)

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: 10,350,194 (July 2001 est.)
Growth rate: -0.15% (2001 est.)
Below poverty line: 22% (1995 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Belarusian
Adjective: Belarusian

Ethnic groups: Byelorussian 81.2% Russian 11.4% Polish Ukrainian and other 7.4%

Languages: Byelorussian Russian other

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

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 17.93% (male 947,820; female 908,210)
15-64 years: 68.21% (male 3,428,920; female 3,631,290)
65 years and over: 13.86% (male 473,992; female 959,962) (2001 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: -0.15% (2001 est.)

Birth rate: 9.57 births/1000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate: 13.97 deaths/1000 population (2001 est.)

Net migration rate: 2.89 migrant(s)/1000 population (2001 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
International agreements party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
International agreements signed but not ratified: Law of the Sea

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.05 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.04 male/female
15-64 years: 0.94 male/female
65 years and over: 0.49 male/female
Total population: 0.88 male/female (2001 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 14.38 deaths/1000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 68.14 years
Male: 62.06 years
Female: 74.52 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.28 children born/woman (2001 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.28% (1999 est.)
People living with hivaids: 14,000 (1999 est.)
Deaths: 400 (1999 est.)

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 98%
Male: 99%
Female: 97% (1989 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Belarus
Conventional short form: Belarus
Local long form: Respublika Byelarus'
Local short form: none
Former: Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist Republic

Government type: republic

Capital: Minsk

Administrative divisions
Note: voblasti have the administrative center name following in parentheses

Dependent areas

Independence: 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day 3 July (1944); note - 3 July 1944 was the date Minsk was liberated from German troops 25 August 1991 was the date of independence from the Soviet Union

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
Chief of state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994)
Head of government: Prime Minister Vladimir YERMOSHIN (since 18 February 2000); First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey KOBYAKOV (since 13 March 2000); Deputy Prime Ministers Mikhail DEMCHUK (since 14 July 2000), Mikhail KHORSTOV (since 27 November 2000), Valeriy KOKOREV (since 23 August 1994), Leonid KOZIK (since 4 February 1997), Gennadiy NOVITSKIY (since 11 February 1997), Aleksandr POPKOV (since 10 November 1998)
Cabinet: Council of Ministers
Elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; first election took place 23 June and 10 July 1994 (next to be held NA; according to the 1994 constitution, the next election should have been held in 1999, however LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via the November 1996 referendum); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president
Election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO elected president; percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 85%, Vyacheslav KEBICH 15%

Legislative branch
Elections: last held October 2000 (next to be held NA)
Election results: party affiliation data unavailable; under present political conditions party designations are meaningless

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 or AP [Semyon SHARETSKY chairman]; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB [Viktor CHIKIN chairman]; Belarusian Ecological Green Party (merger of Belarusian Ecological Party and Green Party of Belarus) [leader NA]; Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR [Anatoliy BARANKEVICH chairman]; Belarusian Popular Front or BNF [Vintsuk VYACHORKA]; Belarusian Social-Democrat or SDBP [Nikolay STATKEVICH chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party Hromada [Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH chairman]; Belarusian Socialist Party [Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV]; Civic Accord Bloc (United Civic Party) or CAB [Stanislav BOGDANKEVICH chairman]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDPB [Sergei GAYDUKEVICH chairman]; Party of Communists Belarusian or PKB [Sergei KALYAKIN chairman]; Republican Party of Labor and Justice or RPPS [Anatoliy NETYLKIN chairman]; Social-Democrat Party of Popular Accord or PPA [Leanid SECHKA]; 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 NSG OPCW OSCE PCA PFP UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UPU WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WTrO (observer)

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Valeriy TSEPAKLO
In the us chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,009
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 986-1604
In the us fax: [1] (202) 986-1805
In the us consulates general: New York
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Michael KOZAK
From the us embassy: 46 Starovilenskaya St., Minsk 220,002
From the us mailing address: use embassy street address
From the us telephone: [375] (17) 210-12-83
From the us fax: [375] (17) 234-7,853

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 reimposed 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 extremely 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: 4% (2000 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $7,500 (2000 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 13%
Industry: 46%
Services: 41% (1999 est.)

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

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

Industrial production growth rate: 5% (2000 est.)

Labor force: 4.8 million (2000)
By occupation industry and construction: NA%
By occupation agriculture and forestry: NA%
By occupation services: NA%

Unemployment rate: 2.1% officially registered unemployed (December 2000); large number of underemployed workers

Youth unemployment

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

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 4.9%
Highest 10: 19.4% (1993)

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $4 billion
Expenditures: $4.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $180 million (1997 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 200% (2000 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: $7.4 billion (f.o.b. 2000)
Commodities: machinery and equipment chemicals metals textiles foodstuffs
Partners: Russia 66% Ukraine Poland Germany Lithuania (1998)

Imports: $8.3 billion (f.o.b. 2000)
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 billion (2000 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Belarusian rubles per US dollar - 1180 (yearend 2000) 730,000 (15 December 1999) 139,000 (25 January 1999) 46,080 (second quarter 1998) 25,964 (1997) 15,500 (yearend 1996); note - on 1 January 2000 the national currency was redenominated at one new ruble to 2000 old rubles


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Electricity
Production: 24.911 billion kWh (1999)
Production by source fossil fuel: 99.9%
Production by source hydro: 0.1%
Production by source nuclear: 0%
Production by source other: 0% (1999)
Consumption: 27.647 billion kWh (1999)
Exports: 2.62 billion kWh (1999)
Imports: 7.1 billion kWh (1999)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 2.313 million (1997)
Mobile cellular: 8,167 (1997)

Telephone system
General assessment: the Ministry of Telecommunications controls all telecommunications through its carrier (a joint stock company) Beltelcom which is a monopoly
Domestic: local - Minsk has a digital metropolitan network and a cellular NMT-450 network; waiting lists for telephones are long; local service outside Minsk is neglected and poor; intercity - Belarus has a partly developed fiber-optic backbone system presently serving at least 13 major cities (1998); Belarus's fiber optics form synchronous digital hierarchy rings through other countries' systems; an inadequate analog system remains operational
International: Belarus is a member of the Trans-European Line (TEL), Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line, and has access to the Trans-Siberia Line (TSL); three fiber-optic segments provide connectivity to Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine; worldwide service is available to Belarus through this infrastructure; additional analog lines to Russia; Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik earth stations

Broadcast media

Internet
Country code: .by
Service providers isps: 4 (2000)
Users: 10,000 (2000)

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: 136 (2000 est.)
With paved runways total: 33
With paved runways over 3047 m: 2
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 19
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 1
With paved runways under 914 m: 11 (2000 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 103
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 3
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 10
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 11
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 14
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 65 (2000 est.)

Heliports

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

Railways
Total: 5,523 km
Broad gauge: 5,523 km 1.520-m gauge (875 km electrified) (2000)

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