 Definition  Field Listing  Rank
Order
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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. Although Belarus agreed to a framework to
carry out the accord, serious implementation has yet to take place.
Learn geography the easy way by playing ZL's Geographycards (www.geographycards.com)
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Location: |
Eastern
Europe, east of Poland |
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Geographic coordinates: |
53 00 N, 28
00 E |
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Map references: |
Europe
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Area: |
total:
207,600 sq km
land: 207,600 sq km
water: 0 sq
km |
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Area - comparative: |
slightly
smaller than Kansas |
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Land boundaries: |
total: 2,900 km
border countries: Latvia 141
km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 407 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km
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Coastline: |
0 km
(landlocked) |
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Maritime claims: |
none
(landlocked) |
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Climate: |
cold
winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental
and maritime |
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Terrain: |
generally
flat and contains much marshland |
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Elevation extremes: |
lowest
point: Nyoman River 90 m
highest point:
Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m |
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Natural resources: |
forests,
peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite,
dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay |
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Land use: |
arable
land: 29.55%
permanent crops: 0.6%
other:
69.85% (2001) |
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Irrigated land: |
1,150 sq km
(1998 est.) |
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Natural hazards: |
NA |
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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 |
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Environment - international agreements: |
party
to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulfur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes,
Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
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Geography - note: |
landlocked;
glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and
for its 11,000 lakes; the country is geologically well endowed with
extensive deposits of granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk,
sand, gravel, and clay Learn geography the easy way by playing ZL's Geographycards (www.geographycards.com)
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Population: |
10,310,520
(July 2004 est.) |
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Age structure: |
0-14
years: 16.3% (male 859,219; female 823,839)
15-64
years: 69.2% (male 3,469,926; female 3,662,203)
65 years
and over: 14.5% (male 496,204; female 999,129) (2004 est.)
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Median age: |
total: 36.9 years
male: 34.2 years
female: 39.5 years (2004 est.) |
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Population growth rate: |
-0.11% (2004
est.) |
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Birth rate: |
10.52
births/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
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Death rate: |
14.1
deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
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Net migration rate: |
2.54
migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
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Sex ratio: |
at
birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04
male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65
years and over: 0.5 male(s)/female
total population:
0.88 male(s)/female (2004 est.) |
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Infant mortality rate: |
total:
13.62 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 14.71 deaths/1,000
live births
female: 12.47 deaths/1,000 live births (2004
est.) |
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Life expectancy at birth: |
total
population: 68.57 years
male: 62.79 years
female: 74.65 years (2004 est.) |
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Total fertility rate: |
1.36 children
born/woman (2004 est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: |
0.3% (2001
est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: |
15,000 (2001
est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - deaths: |
1,000 (2001
est.) |
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Nationality: |
noun:
Belarusian(s)
adjective: Belarusian |
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Ethnic groups: |
Belarusian
81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish, Ukrainian, and other 7.4% |
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Religions: |
Eastern
Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish,
and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.) |
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Languages: |
Belarusian,
Russian, other |
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Literacy: |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.6%
male: 99.8%
female: 99.5% (2003 est.) Learn geography the easy way by playing ZL's Geographycards (www.geographycards.com)
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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 |
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Government type: |
republic
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Capital: |
Minsk |
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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); note - when using a place name with the
adjectival ending 'skaya,' the word Voblasts' should be added to the
place name
note: voblasti have the administrative center
name following in parentheses |
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Independence: |
25 August
1991 (from Soviet Union) |
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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 |
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Constitution: |
30 March
1994; revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the
presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November
1996 |
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Legal system: |
based on
civil law system |
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Suffrage: |
18 years of
age; universal |
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Executive branch: |
chief of
state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994)
head of government: Prime Minister Sergei SIDORSKY (since
19 December 2003); First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir SEMASHKO
(since December 2003); Deputy Prime Ministers Andrei KOBYAKOV (since
December 2003), Vladimir DRAZHIN (since 24 September 2001), Roman
VNUCHKO (since 10 July 2003), Anatoly TYUTYUNOV (since July 2002)
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; according to the 1994
constitution, the next election should have been held in 1999,
however LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via a November 1996
referendum; new election held 9 September 2001 (next election to be
held by September 2006); prime minister and deputy prime ministers
appointed by the president
election results: Aleksandr
LUKASHENKO reelected president; percent of vote - Aleksandr
LUKASHENKO 75.6%, Vladimir GONCHARIK 15.4% |
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Legislative branch: |
bicameral
Parliament or Natsionalnoye Sobranie consists of the Council of the
Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64 seats; 56 members elected by
regional councils and 8 members appointed by the president, all for
4-year terms) and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata
Pretsaviteley (110 seats; members elected by universal adult
suffrage to serve 4-year terms)
elections: last held 15
and 29 October 2000 and 18 March and 1 April 2001 (next to be held
Fall 2004)
election results: Soviet Respubliki - percent
of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; Palata Pretsaviteley -
percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - KPB 6, AP 5, RPPS 2,
LDPB 1, PPA 1, non-party 81, other 14 |
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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) |
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Political parties and leaders: |
Agrarian
Party or AP [Mikhail SHIMANSKY]; 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 Party or SDBP
[Nikolay STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party
or Hromada [Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Socialist
Party [Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV]; Civic Accord Bloc (United Civic Party)
or CAB [Anatol LEBEDKO]; 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 or "Nadezhda"
[Valentina POLEVIKOVA, chairperson] |
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Political pressure groups and leaders: |
NA |
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International organization participation: |
CEI, CIS,
EAPC, EBRD, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF,
Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NAM, NSG, OPCW, OSCE, PCA,
PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO
(observer) |
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Diplomatic representation in the US: |
chief of
mission: Ambassador Mikhail KHVOSTOV
chancery: 1619
New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009
telephone:
[1] (202) 986-1604
FAX: [1] (202) 986-1805
consulate(s) general: New York |
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Diplomatic representation from the US: |
chief of
mission: Ambassador George A. KROL
embassy: 46
Starovilenskaya St., Minsk 220002
mailing address: PSC
78, Box B Minsk, APO 09723
telephone: [375] (17)
210-12-83
FAX: [375] (17) 234-7853 |
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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 a
Belarusian national ornament in red Learn geography the easy way by playing ZL's Geographycards (www.geographycards.com)
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Economy - overview: |
Belarus'
economy in 2003 posted 6.1 percent growth and is likely to continue
expanding through 2004, albeit at a slower growth rate. The
Belarusian economy in 2004 is likely to be hampered by high
inflation, persistent trade deficits, and ongoing rocky relations
with Russia, Belarus' largest trading partner and energy supplier.
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 enterprises.
In addition, businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of
central and local governments, e.g., arbitrary changes in
regulations, numerous rigorous inspections, retroactive application
of new business regulations, and arrests of "disruptive" businessmen
and factory owners. A wide range of redistributive policies has
helped those at the bottom of the ladder. For the time being,
Belarus remains self-isolated from the West and its open-market
economies. |
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GDP: |
purchasing
power parity - $62.56 billion (2003 est.) |
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GDP - real growth rate: |
6.8% (2003
est.) |
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GDP - per capita: |
purchasing
power parity - $6,100 (2003 est.) |
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GDP - composition by sector: |
agriculture: 11.1%
industry: 36.4%
services: 52.5% (2003 est.) |
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Investment (gross fixed): |
21.7% of GDP
(2003) |
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Population below poverty line: |
22% (1995
est.) |
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Household income or consumption by percentage
share: |
lowest
10%: 5.1%
highest 10%: 20% (1998) |
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Distribution of family income - Gini
index: |
21.7 (1998)
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Inflation rate (consumer prices): |
28.2% (2003
est.) |
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Labor force: |
4.8 million
(2000 est.) |
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Labor force - by occupation: |
NA |
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Unemployment rate: |
2.1%
officially registered unemployed (December 2000); large number of
underemployed workers (2003 est.) |
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Budget: |
revenues: $2.976 billion
expenditures: $3.211
billion, including capital expenditures of $180 million (2003 est.)
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Agriculture - products: |
grain,
potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk |
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Industries: |
metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers,
motorcycles, television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles,
radios, refrigerators |
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Industrial production growth rate: |
5% (2003
est.) |
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Electricity - production: |
24.4 billion
kWh (2001) |
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Electricity - consumption: |
26.69 billion
kWh (2001) |
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Electricity - exports: |
300 million
kWh (2001) |
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Electricity - imports: |
4.3 billion
kWh (2001) |
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Oil - production: |
37,000
bbl/day (2001 est.) |
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Oil - consumption: |
230,000
bbl/day (2001 est.) |
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Oil - exports: |
NA (2001)
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Oil - imports: |
NA (2001)
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Natural gas - production: |
200 million
cu m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - consumption: |
18 billion cu
m (2001 est.) |
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Natural gas - exports: |
0 cu m (2001
est.) |
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Natural gas - imports: |
17.8 billion
cu m (2001 est.) |
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Current account balance: |
$-945 million
(2003) |
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Exports: |
$9.413
billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
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Exports - commodities: |
machinery
and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals; textiles,
foodstuffs |
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Exports - partners: |
Russia
57.2%, Germany 4.7%, France 3.9% (2003 est.) |
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Imports: |
$11.09
billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
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Imports - commodities: |
mineral
products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals
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Imports - partners: |
Russia
68.8%, Germany 8.6%, Poland 2.9% (2003 est.) |
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Reserves of foreign exchange & gold: |
$637 million
(2003) |
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Debt - external: |
$851 million
(2001 est.) |
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Economic aid - recipient: |
$194.3
million (1995) |
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Currency: |
Belarusian
ruble (BYB/BYR) |
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Currency code: |
BYB/BYR
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Exchange rates: |
Belarusian
rubles per US dollar - 1,790.92 (2003), 1,920 (2002), 1,390 (2001),
876.75 (2000), 248.795 (1999) |
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Fiscal year: |
calendar
year Learn geography the easy way by playing ZL's Geographycards (www.geographycards.com)
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Telephones - main lines in use: |
3,071,300
(2003) |
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Telephones - mobile cellular: |
1.118 million
(2003) |
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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' fiber optics form synchronous digital
hierarchy rings through other countries' systems; an inadequate
analog system remains operational
international: country
code - 375; 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 |
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Radio broadcast stations: |
AM 28, FM
37, shortwave 11 (1998) |
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Television broadcast stations: |
47 (plus 27
repeaters) (1995) |
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Internet country code: |
.by |
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Internet hosts: |
5,308 (2004)
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Internet users: |
1,391,900
(2003) Learn geography the easy way by playing ZL's Geographycards (www.geographycards.com)
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Railways: |
total:
5,523 km
broad gauge: 5,523 km 1.520-m gauge (875 km
electrified) (2003) |
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Highways: |
total:
74,385 km
paved: 66,203 km
unpaved: 8,182 km
(2000) |
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Waterways: |
Belarus has
extensive and widely used canal and river systems (2004) |
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Pipelines: |
gas 4,519
km; oil 1,811 km; refined products 1,686 km (2003) |
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Ports and harbors: |
Mazyr |
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Airports: |
135 (2003
est.) |
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Airports - with paved runways: |
total: 50
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to
3,047 m: 21
1,524 to 2,437 m: 6
under 914
m: 21 (2003 est.) |
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Airports - with unpaved runways: |
total: 85
over 3,047 m: 3
2,438 to
3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
914 to 1,523
m: 11
under 914 m: 64 (2003 est.) |
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Heliports: |
1 (2003
est.) Learn geography the easy way by playing ZL's Geographycards (www.geographycards.com)
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