Belarus

Belarus on the map of Europe

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

Mikhail Myasnikovich (2010)

Total land area of Belarus

207,600 km²

Nationality of Belarus

Population – 9.465,2 million

• Life expectancy at birth – 70.5 years
• Population living in cities – 75.8%
• The capital is Minsk – 1.885,1 million inhabitants

Regional centres of Belarus (2011):

• Brest  - 321,000 inhabitants 
• Vitebsk  – 367,000 inhabitants  
• Gomel  – 507,000 inhabitants 
• Grodno  –346,000 inhabitants 
• Mogilev  – 363,000 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 (2011) Br274282 billion; per capita: Br28953 thousand
Commodity structure of export (2011):

• mineral products -  36.0%
• chemical industry production, rubber – 21,5%
• cars, equipment and vehicles – 18,1%
• black, nonferrous metals and products from them – 6,1%
• articles of food and agricultural raw materials – 9,6%
• others – 8,7%

Commodity structure of import (2011):

• mineral products – 41,7%
• chemical industry production, rubber – 11,7%
• cars, equipment and vehicles – 23,1%
• black, nonferrous metals and products from them – 10,0%
• articles of food and agricultural raw materials – 7,0%
• others – 6,5%

Main Business Partners of Belarus

• Russia
• Ukraine 
• Netherlands 
• Germany
• China
• Poland
• Venezuela 
• Brazil
• Latvia
• Italy

Main Industries of Belarus

• metallurgical
• 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
• chemical and petrochemical
• light industry
• food industry

Area of farmland in Belarus

8927 thousands hectares (2010)

Agriculture

Areas of speciality in agriculture: grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beet, flax, meat and dairy industry

Natural resources

• wood
• peat
• small oil and natural gas fields
• granite
• dolomite
• limestone
• clay
• sand

Number of people in employment

4.6 million (2011)
Distribution of employed population across key economic sectors (2011):

• industry – 25.4%
• agriculture – 10.3%
• construction - 8.6 %
• transportation and communication – 7.5%
• retail, catering, logistics – 13.7%
• education – 9,9%
• public health services, physical training and social security – 6.8%
• others – 17.8%

Unemployment in Belarus

28,2 thousand unemployed (2011)

Communication Facilities in Belarus

Telephone: main telephone equipment – about 4.2 million, users of mobile phones – 10.7 million
Internet users: more than 3.1 million
In terms of overall postal e-services development, the Universal Postal Union index places Belarus in the top ten (2011).

Transportation

Railways – 5,511 km, including 897km of electric track
Highways – 85,700 km. Including paved roads 74,300 km
Oil pipelines – 2,984 km
Gas pipelines – 7,421 km