BELARUS
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BELARUS
@Belarus:Geography
Location: Eastern Europe, east of Poland
Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States - European States
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BELARUS - MAJOR CITIES
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Latitude, Internat'l Time
Population Longitude Phone Code Zone
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MENSK 1,589,000 53.51N, 27.30E 7- GMT+3
Gomel 500,000 52.25N, 31.00E 7- GMT+3
Mogilyov 356,000 53.54N, 30.21E 7- GMT+3
Vitebsk 350,000 55.12N, 30.11E 7- GMT+3
Grodno 270,000 53.41N, 23.50E 7- GMT+3
Brest 258,000 52.06N, 23.42E 7- GMT+3
Bobruysk 223,000 53.08N, 29.10E 7- GMT+3
Baranovichi 159,000 53.08N, 26.02E 7- GMT+3
Borisov 144,000 54.15N, 28.30E 7- GMT+3
Orsha 123,000 54.30N, 30.24E 7- GMT+3
Pinsk 119,000 52.07N, 26.04E 7- GMT+3
Mozyr 101,000 52.03N, 29.14E 7- GMT+3
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Area:
total area: 207,600 sq km
land area: 207,600 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than Kansas
Land boundaries: total 3,098 km, Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km,
Poland 605 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims: none; landlocked
International disputes: none
Climate: cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between
continental and maritime
Terrain: generally flat and contains much marshland
Natural resources: forest land, peat deposits, small quantities of oil
and natural gas
Land use:
arable land: 29%
permanent crops: 1%
meadows and pastures: 15%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 55%
Irrigated land: 1,490 sq km (1990)
Environment:
current issues: soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of
the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor
accident at Chornobyl'
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Biodiversity,
Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection; signed, but not ratified - Climate Change, Law of
the Sea
Note: landlocked
@Belarus:People
Population: 10,437,418 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 22% (female 1,126,062; male 1,166,439)
15-64 years: 65% (female 3,494,891; male 3,293,196)
65 years and over: 13% (female 913,508; male 443,322) (July 1995 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.3% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 12.98 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Death rate: 11.23 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Net migration rate: 1.27 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 18.6 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.03 years
male: 66.36 years
female: 75.93 years (1995 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.87 children born/woman (1995 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Belarusian(s)
adjective: Belarusian
Ethnic divisions: Byelorussian 77.9%, Russian 13.2%, Polish 4.1%,
Ukrainian 2.9%, other 1.9%
Religions: Eastern Orthodox, other
Languages: Byelorussian, Russian, other
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1989)
total population: 97%
male: 99%
female: 96%
Labor force: 4.887 million
by occupation: industry and construction 40%, agriculture and forestry
21%, other 39% (1992)
@Belarus:Government
Names:
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
Digraph: BO
Type: republic
Capital: Minsk
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: the administrative centers of the voblastsi are included in
parentheses
Independence: 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
National holiday: Independence Day, 27 July (1990)
Constitution: adopted 15 March 1994; replaces constitution of April
1978
Legal system: based on civil law system
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994);
election held June 24 and 10 July 1994 (next to be held NA 1999);
Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 80%, Vyacheslav KEBICH 14%
head of government: Prime Minister Mikhail CHIGIR (since July 1994);
Deputy Prime Ministers Vladimir GARKUN, Viktor GONCHAR, Sergey LING,
Mikhail MYASNIKOVICH, Valeriy KOKAREV (since NA)
cabinet: Council of Ministers
note: first presidential elections took place in June-July 1994
Legislative branch: unicameral
Supreme Soviet: elections last held 4 April 1990 (next to be held 14
May 1995); results - Communists 87%; seats - (360 total) number of
seats by party NA; note - 50 seats are for public bodies; the
Communist Party obtained an overwhelming majority
Judicial branch: Supreme Court
Political parties and leaders: Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), Zenon
POZNYAK, chairman; Party of Popular Accord, Gennadiy KARPENKO; Union
of Belarusian Entreprenuers, V. N. KARYAGIN; Belarusian Party of
Communists, Vasiliy NOVIKOV, Viktor CHIKIN, chairmen; Belarus Peasant
Party, Yevgeniy LUGIN, chairman; Belarusian Socialist Party,
Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV, chairman; Belarusian Social Democrat Party
(SDBP), Oleg TRUSOV, Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairmen; Agrarian Party
of Belarus, Aleksandr DUBKO; United Democratic Party of Belarus
(UDPB), Aleksandr DOBROVOLSKIY, chairman; Independent Trade Unions,
Sergey ANTONCHIK, chairman
Member of: CCC, CE (guest), CEI (associate members), CIS, EBRD, ECE,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IFC, ILO, IMF, INMARSAT, INTELSAT (nonsignatory
user), INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, NACC, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO
Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Sergey Nikolayevich MARTYNOV
chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009
telephone: [1] (202) 986-1604
FAX: [1] (202) 986-1805
consulate(s) general: New York
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Kenneth Spencer YALOWITZ
embassy: Starovilenskaya #46, Minsk
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [7] (0172) 34-65-37
Flag: three horizontal bands of white (top), red, and white
Economy
Overview: Belarus ranks among the most developed of the former Soviet
states, with a relatively modern - by Soviet standards - and diverse
machine building sector and a robust agriculture sector. It also
serves as a transport link for Russian oil exports to the Baltic
states and Eastern and Western Europe. The breakup of the Soviet Union
and its command economy has resulted in a sharp economic contraction
as traditional trade ties have collapsed. The Belarusian government
has lagged behind the governments of most other former Soviet states
in economic reform, with privatization almost nonexistent. The system
of state orders and distribution persists. In mid-1994, the Belarusian
government embarked on an austerity program with IMF support to slash
state credits and consumer subsidies in order to bring down the budget
deficit and reduce inflation. However, despite its promising start,
the regime's drive to reinvigorate the economy has fallen short, and
the IMF has criticized its failure to implement the reforms that the
Fund had negotiated. As a result, the IMF has suspended talks on
introducing a stand-by arrangement. Economic relations with Russia,
which will have an important bearing on the future course of the
economy, will be strengthened if Minsk adopts the necessary
legislation to implement a customs union agreed to in January 1995.
National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $53.4 billion (1994
estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1992)
National product real growth rate: -20% (1994)
National product per capita: $5,130 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 29% per month (1994)
Unemployment rate: 1.4% officially registered unemployed (December
1993); large numbers of underemployed workers
Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Exports: $968 million to outside of the FSU countries (f.o.b., 1994)
commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs
partners: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria
Imports: $534 million from outside the FSU countries (c.i.f., 1994)
commodities: fuel, natural gas, industrial raw materials, textiles,
sugar
partners: Russia, Ukraine, Poland
External debt: $1.5 billion (July 1994 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate -19% (1994); accounts for about 40%
of GDP (1992)
Electricity:
capacity: 7,010,000 kW
production: 31.4 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 3,010 kWh (1994)
Industries: employ about 40% of labor force and produced a wide
variety of products including (in percent share of total output of
former Soviet Union): tractors (12%); metal-cutting machine tools
(11%); off-highway dump trucks up to 110-metric-ton load capacity
(100%); wheel-type earthmovers for construction and mining (100%);
eight-wheel-drive, high-flotation trucks with cargo capacity of 25
metric tons for use in tundra and roadless areas (100%); equipment for
animal husbandry and livestock feeding (25%); motorcycles (21.3%);
television sets (11%); chemical fibers (28%); fertilizer (18%); linen
fabric (11%); wool fabric (7%); radios; refrigerators; and other
consumer goods
Agriculture: accounts for almost 25% of GDP and 5.7% of total
agricultural output of former Soviet Union; employs 21% of the labor
force; in 1988 produced the following (in percent of total Soviet
production): grain (3.6%), potatoes (12.2%), vegetables (3.0%), meat
(6.0%), milk (7.0%); net exporter of meat, milk, eggs, flour, potatoes
Illicit drugs: illicit cultivator of opium poppy and cannabis; mostly
for the domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to
Western Europe
Economic aid: $NA
Currency: Belarusian rubel (BR)
Exchange rates: Belarusian rubels per US$1 - 10,600 (end December
1994)
Fiscal year: calendar year
@Belarus:Transportation
Railroads:
total: 5,570 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial
lines
broad gauge: 5,570 km 1.520-m gauge (1990)
Highways:
total: 98,200 km
paved: 66,100 km
unpaved: earth 32,100 km (1990)
Inland waterways: NA km
Pipelines: crude oil 1,470 km; refined products 1,100 km; natural gas
1,980 km (1992)
Ports: Mazyr
Merchant marine:
note: claims 5% of former Soviet fleet
Airports:
total: 118
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 2
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 18
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
with paved runways under 914 m: 11
with unpaved runways over 3,047 m: 1
with unpaved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 6
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 4
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 9
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 62
@Belarus:Communications
Telephone system: 1,849,000 telephones (December 1991); 18
telephones/100 persons; telephone service inadequate for the purposes
of either business or the population; about 70% of the telephones are
in homes; over 750,000 applications from households for telephones
remain unsatisfied (1992); new investment centers on international
connections and business needs; the new BelCel NMT 450 cellular system
(a joint venture) is now operating in Minsk
local: NA
intercity: NA
international: international traffic is carried by the Moscow
international gateway switch and also by 2 satellite earth stations
near Minsk - INTELSAT (through Canada) and EUTELSAT (through the UK)
Radio:
broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave 0
radios: 3.14 million (5,615,000 with multiple speaker systems for
program diffusion)
Television:
broadcast stations: NA
televisions: 3.538 million
@Belarus:Defense Forces
Branches: Army, Air Force, Air Defense Force, Republic Security Forces
(internal and border troops)
Manpower availability: males age 15-49 2,550,500; males fit for
military service 1,999,138; males reach military age (18) annually
71,808 (1995 est.)
Defense expenditures: 56.5 billion rubles, NA% of GDP (1993 est.);
note - conversion of the military budget into US dollars using the
current exchange rate could produce misleading results
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