Belarus

Republic of Belarus

National Name: Respublika Byelarus'

President: Alyaksandr Lukashenka (1994)

Prime Minister: Syarhey Sidorski (2003)

Total area: 80,154 sq mi (207,600 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 10,293,011 (growth rate: –0.1%); birth rate: 11.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 13.0/1000; life expectancy: 69.1; density per sq mi: 128

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Mensk (Minsk), 1,769,500

Other large cities: Gomel, 502,200; Mogilyov, 374,000; Vitebsk, 355,800; Grodno, 314,100; Brest, 306,300; Bobruysk, 228,100

Monetary unit: Belorussian ruble

Languages: Belorussian (White Russian), Russian, other

Ethnicity/race: Belorussian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish 3.9%, Ukrainian 2.4%, other 1.1% (1999)

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

Literacy rate: 100% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $79.13 billion; per capita $7,700. Real growth rate: 8%. Inflation: 8%. Unemployment: 1.6% officially registered unemployed; large number of underemployed workers. Arable land: 26.77%. Agriculture: grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk. Labor force: 4.3 million (Dec. 31, 2005); agriculture 14%, industry 34.7%, services 51.3% (2003 est.). Industries: metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, televisions, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators. Natural resources: forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay. Exports: $16.14 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals, textiles, foodstuffs. Imports: $16.94 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals. Major trading partners: Russia, UK, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Ukraine (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 3,175,900 (2004); mobile cellular: 2,239,300 (2004). Radio broadcast stations: AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998). Television broadcast stations: 47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995). Internet hosts: 20,973 (2005). Internet users: 1.6 million (2005).

Transportation: Railways: total: 5,512 km (2004). Highways: total: 79,990 km; paved: 69,351 km; unpaved: 10,639 km (2004). Waterways: 2,500 km (use limited by location on perimeter of country and by shallowness) (2003). Ports and harbors: Mazyr. Airports: 101 (2005).

International disputes: 1997 boundary treaty with Ukraine remains unratified over unresolved financial claims, preventing demarcation and diminishing border security; the whole boundary with Latvia and more than half the boundary with Lithuania remains undemarcated; discussions toward economic and political union with Russia proceed slowly


 

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