| Belarus |
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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. Since his election in July 1994 as the country's first president, Alexandr LUKASHENKO has steadily consolidated his power through authoritarian means. Government restrictions on freedom of speech and the press, peaceful assembly, and religion continue. |
| Geography and Environmental |
Capital: name: Minsk
geographic coordinates: 53 54 N, 27 34 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October |
| Area Total: 207,600 sq km |
| Area Land: 207,600 sq km |
| Area Water: 0 sq km |
| Area Comparative: slightly smaller than Kansas |
| Coastline: 0 km (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 |
| Elevation Extremes Highest Point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m |
| Natural Resources: forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay |
| Land Use Arable Land: 26.77% |
| Land Use Permanent Crops: 0.6% |
| Land Use Other: 72.63% (2005) |
| Irrigated Land: 1,310 sq km (2003) |
| Natural Hazards: NA |
| 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 |
| Geography Note: landlocked; glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and for its 11,000 lakes |
| Population |
| Population: 9,724,723 (July 2007 est.) |
| Age Structure 0 to 14 Years: 14.7% (male 733,010/female 691,734) |
| Age Structure 15 to 64 Years: 70.4% (male 3,327,119/female 3,520,690) |
| Age Structure 65 Years And Over: 14.9% (male 471,863/female 980,307) (2007 est.) |
| Median Age Total: 38.2 years |
| Median Age Male: 35.1 years |
| Median Age Female: 41.1 years (2007 est.) |
| Population Growth Rate: -0.41% (2007 est.) |
| Birth Rate: 9.5 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Death Rate: 13.98 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Sex Ratio At Birth: 1.06 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Under 15 Years: 1.06 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 15 to 64 Years: 0.945 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 65 Years And Over: 0.481 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Total Population: 0.873 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
| Infant Mortality Rate Total: 6.63 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Male: 7.67 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Female: 5.53 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
| Life Expectancy At BirthTotalPopulation: 70.05 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Male: 64.31 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Female: 76.14 years (2007 est.) |
| Total Fertility Rate: 1.22 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: 0.3% (2001 est.) |
| HIV AIDS People Living With HIV AIDS: 15,000 (2001 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Deaths: 1,000 (2001 est.) |
| Religions: Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.) |
| Languages: Belarusian, Russian, other |
| Literacy Definition: age 15 and over can read and write |
| Literacy Total Population: 99.6% |
| Literacy Male: 99.8% |
| Literacy Female: 99.5% (2003 est.) |
Administrative Divisions: 6 provinces (voblastsi, singular - voblasts') and 1 municipality* (horad); Brest, Homyel', Horad Minsk*, Hrodna, Mahilyow, Minsk, Vitsyebsk
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers |
| Legal System: based on civil law system |
| Economy |
| Overview: Belarus's economy in 2006 posted more than 8% growth. Trade with Russia - by far its largest single trade partner - decreased in 2006, largely as a result of a change in the way the Value Added Tax (VAT) on trade was collected. Trade with European countries increased. 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. Since 2005, the government has re-nationalized a number of private companies. In addition, businesses have been subject to pressure by 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; the Gini coefficient is among the lowest in the world. Because of these restrictive economic policies, Belarus has had trouble attracting foreign investment, which remains low. Growth has been strong in recent years, despite the roadblocks in a tough, centrally directed economy with a high, but decreasing, rate of inflation. Belarus receives heavily discounted oil and natural gas from Russia and much of Belarus' growth can be attributed to the re-export of Russian oil at market prices. This growth will be threatened in 2007, however, when Russia raises energy prices closer to world market prices for Belarus. Russia is planning to increase Belarusian gas prices from $47 per thousand cubic meters (tcm) to $100 per tcm for 2007, gradually increasing to world prices by 2011. Russia has also introduced an export duty on oil shipped to Belarus, which will increase gradually through 2009, and a requirement that Belarusian duties on re-exported Russian oil be shared with Russia - 70% will go to Russia in 2007, 80% in 2008, and 85% in 2009. |
| GDP Purchasing Power Parity: $80.74 billion (2006 est.) |
| GDP Real Growth Rate: 8.3% (2006 est.) |
| GDP Composition By Sector Agriculture: 9.3% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Industry: 31.6% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Services: 59.1% (2005 est.) |
| Labor Force: 4.3 million (31 December 2005) |
Labor Force By Occupation: agriculture: 14%
industry: 34.7%
services: 51.3% (2003 est.) |
| Unemployment Rate: 1.6% officially registered unemployed; large number of underemployed workers (2005) |
Household Income Or Consumption By Percentage Share: lowest 10%: 5.1%
highest 10%: 20% (1998) |
| Inflation Rate Consumer Prices: 9.5% (2006 est.) |
| Industries: metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, televisions, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators |
| Industrial Production Growth Rate: 15.6% (2005 est.) |
| Energy |
| Electricity Production: 29.33 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Production By Source Fossil Fuel: 99.5% |
| Electricity Production By Source Hydro: 0.1% |
| Electricity Production By Source Nuclear: 0% |
| Electricity Production By Source Other: 0.4% (2001) |
| Electricity Consumption: 31.05 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Exports: 4.723 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Imports: 8.5 billion kWh (2004) |
| Oil Production: 34,260 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil Consumption: 165,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Production: 180 million cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Consumption: 20.5 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Natural Gas Exports: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Imports: 16.22 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Exports: $19.61 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Exports Commodities: machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals, textiles, foodstuffs |
| Exports Partners: Russia 35.8%, Netherlands 15.1%, UK 7%, Ukraine 5.7%, Poland 5.3%, Germany 4.4% (2005) |
| Imports: $21.12 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Imports Commodities: mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals |
| Imports Partners: Russia 60.6%, Germany 6.7%, Ukraine 5.4% (2005) |
| Debt External: $5.498 billion (30 June 2006 est.) |
| Economic Aid Recipient: $194.3 million (1995) |
| Communications |
| Telephones Main Lines In Use: 3,284,300 (2005) |
| TelephonesMobileCellular: 4.098 million (2005) |
| Telephone System General Assessment: Belarus lags behind its neighbors in upgrading telecommunications infrastructure; state-owned Beltelcom, is the sole provider of fixed line local and long distance service; modernization of the network to digital switching progressing slowly |
| Telephone System Domestic: fixed line penetration is improving although rural areas continue to be underserved; 4 GSM wireless networks are experiencing rapid growth; strict government controls on telecommunications technologies |
| Telephone System 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); 3 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 |
| Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998) |
| Radios: 3.02 million (1997) |
| Television Broadcast Stations: 47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995) |
| Televisions: 2.52 million (1997) |
| Internet Service Providers-ISPs: 23 (2002) |
| Internet Users: 3.394 million (2005) |
| Transportation |
| Railways Total: 5,512 km |
| Railways Broad Gauge: 5,497 km 1.520-m gauge (874 km electrified) |
| Railways Standard Gauge: 15 km 1.435 m (2005) |
| Waterways: 2,500 km (use limited by location on perimeter of country and by shallowness) (2003) |
| Airports: 86 (2006) |
| Military Expenditures Percent Of GDP: 1.4% (2005 est.) |
| Disputes International: as of January 2007, ground demarcations of the boundaries with Latvia and Lithuania were complete and mapped with final ratification documentation in preparation; 1997 boundary delimitation treaty with Ukraine remains unratified over unresolved financial claims, preventing demarcation and diminishing border security |
| IllicitDrugs: 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; a small and lightly regulated financial center; new anti-money-laundering legislation does not meet international standards; few investigations or prosecutions of money-laundering activities |