An introduction in facts and figures to this landlocked country in the north-east of Europe
Official Name
Republic of Belarus
President of Belarus
Alexander Lukashenko (1994 – present )
Prime Minister of Belarus
Andrei Kobyakov (2014)
Total land area of Belarus
207,600 km²
Nationality of Belarus
Population – 9.498,4 million (on 1 January 2016)
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Life expectancy at birth – 73.2 years
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Population living in cities – 77.6%
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The capital is Minsk – 1.959,8 million inhabitants
Regional centres of Belarus (on 1 January 2016):
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Brest Oblast – 1.387,0 million inhabitants (Brest – 340 thousand)
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Vitebsk Oblast – 1.193,6 million inhabitants (Vitebsk – 376 thousand)
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Gomel Oblast – 1.422,9 million inhabitants (Gomel – 531 thousand)
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Grodno Oblast – 1.050,1 million inhabitants (Grodno – 366 thousand)
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Mogilev Oblast – 1.067,7 million inhabitants (Mogilev – 378 thousand)
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Minsk Oblast – 1.417,3 million inhabitants
Ethnicity
Belarusian Russian Polish Ukrainian Jewish |
83.7% 8.3% 3.1% 1.7% 0.1% |
(Source: 2009 census) |
Languages spoken in Belarus
Belarusian and Russian
National holidays in Belarus
Independence Day, 3 July
Currency of Belarus
Belarusian rouble (Br)
Economic indicators
GNP (2015) Br869702 billion; per capita: Br91646 thousand
Commodity structure of export (2015):
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mineral products – 29.9%
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chemical industry production, rubber – 21.3%
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cars, equipment and vehicles – 13.8%
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black, nonferrous metals and products from them – 6.5%
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articles of food and agricultural raw materials – 16.3%
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others – 12.2%
Commodity structure of import (2015):
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mineral products – 31.1%
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cars, equipment and vehicles – 23.4%
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black, nonferrous metals and products from them – 8.4%
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chemical industry production, rubber – 13.6%
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articles of food and agricultural raw materials – 14.6%
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others – 8.9%
Main Business Partners of Belarus (2015)
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Russia
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Ukraine
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China
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United Kingdom
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Germany
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Poland
- Netherlands
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Lithuania
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Italy
- Latvia
Main Industries of Belarus
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metallurgical
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mechanical engineering, including tractors and agricultural, cars, machine-tool constructing and tool industry, instrument making, radio engineering, electro technical, electronic, optics-mechanical industry; and metal working
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chemical and petrochemical
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light industry
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food industry
Area of farmland in Belarus
8582 thousands hectares (on 1 January 2016)
Agriculture
Areas of speciality in agriculture: grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beet, flax, meat and dairy industry
Natural resources
- wood
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peat
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potash and rock salts
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small oil and natural gas fields
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granite
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dolomite
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limestone
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clay
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sand
Number of people in employment
4.5 million (2015)
Breakdown of employed population by type of economic activity (2015):
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production sector – 23.6%
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agriculture, hunting, forestry industry – 9.4%
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civil engineering – 8.0%
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transportation and communication – 7.4%
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retail; repairs of automobiles, household goods, and personal-use items – 14.8%
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education – 9.8%
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others – 27.0%
Unemployment in Belarus
41.3 thousand unemployed (2015)
Communication Facilities in Belarus
Telephone (2015): main telephone equipment – about 4.417 million, mobile subscribers – 11.4 million
Internet users (2015): more than 9.6 million
In terms of overall postal e-services development, the Universal Postal Union index places Belarus in the top ten (2011).
Transportation
Railways – 5491 km, including 1128 km of electric track
Highways – 101,700 km, including paved roads 87,400 km
Oil pipelines – 2,983 km
Gas pipelines – 7,837 km