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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. |
| Location: |
Eastern Europe, east of Poland |
| Geographic
coordinates: |
53 00 N, 28 00 E |
| Map
references: |
Europe
|
| Area: |
total: 207,600 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land:
207,600 sq km |
| Area
- comparative: |
slightly smaller than Kansas |
| Land
boundaries: |
total: 2,900 km
border countries: Latvia 141
km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 407 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km |
| Coastline: |
0 km (landlocked) |
| Maritime
claims: |
none (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
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: 29.76%
permanent crops: 0.69%
other: 69.55% (1998 est.) |
| Irrigated
land: |
1,150 sq km (1998 est.) |
| 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 |
| Environment
- international agreements: |
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides,
Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine
Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed,
but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
| Geography
- note: |
landlocked; glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian
terrain and for its 11,000 lakes; the country is geologically well endowed
with extensive deposits of granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk,
sand, gravel, and clay
|
| Population: |
10,322,151 (July 2003 est.) |
| Age
structure: |
0-14 years: 16.8% (male 885,265; female 848,516)
15-64
years: 68.9% (male 3,456,769; female 3,652,766)
65 years
and over: 14.3% (male 490,529; female 988,306) (2003 est.) |
| Median
age: |
total: 36.7 years
male: 34.1 years
female:
39.3 years (2002) |
| Population
growth rate: |
-0.12% (2003 est.) |
| Birth
rate: |
10.18 births/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Death
rate: |
14.05 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Net
migration rate: |
2.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Sex
ratio: |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.5 male(s)/female
total population:
0.88 male(s)/female (2003 est.) |
| Infant
mortality rate: |
total: 13.87 deaths/1,000 live births
female:
12.56 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)
male: 15.13 deaths/1,000
live births |
| Life
expectancy at birth: |
total population: 68.43 years
male: 62.54 years
female: 74.6 years (2003 est.) |
| Total
fertility rate: |
1.34 children born/woman (2003 est.) |
| Nationality: |
noun: Belarusian(s)
adjective: Belarusian |
| Ethnic
groups: |
Belarusian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish, Ukrainian, and other 7.4% |
| 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
total
population: 99.6%
male: 99.8%
female: 99.5%
(2003 est.)
|
| Economy
- overview: |
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 enterprise. In addition to
the burdens imposed by high inflation and persistent trade deficits,
businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of 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 help those at the bottom of the ladder. Close
relations with Russia, possibly leading to reunion, color the pattern
of economic developments. For the time being, Belarus remains self-isolated
from the West and its open-market economies. |
| GDP: |
purchasing power parity - $85 billion (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- real growth rate: |
4.2% (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- per capita: |
purchasing power parity - $8,200 (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- composition by sector: |
agriculture: 15%
industry: 40%
services:
45% (2002 est.) |
| Population
below poverty line: |
22% (1995 est.) |
| Household
income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: 5.1%
highest 10%: 20% (1998) |
| Distribution
of family income - Gini index: |
21.7 (1998) |
| Inflation
rate (consumer prices): |
42.8% (2002 est.) |
| Labor
force: |
4.8 million (2000) |
| Labor
force - by occupation: |
industry and construction NA%, agriculture and forestry NA%, services
NA% |
| Unemployment
rate: |
2.1% officially registered unemployed (December 2000); large number
of underemployed workers |
| Budget: |
revenues: $4 billion
expenditures: $4.1 billion,
including capital expenditures of $180 million (1997 est.) |
| Industries: |
metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles,
television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators
|
| Industrial
production growth rate: |
2.5% (2002 est.) |
| Electricity
- production: |
24.4 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- production by source: |
fossil fuel: 99.5%
hydro: 0.1%
other:
0.4% (2001)
nuclear: 0% |
| Electricity
- consumption: |
26.69 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- exports: |
300 million kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- imports: |
4.3 billion kWh (2001) |
| Oil
- production: |
37,000 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil
- consumption: |
230,000 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil
- exports: |
NA (2001) |
| Oil
- imports: |
NA (2001) |
| Agriculture
- products: |
grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk |
| Exports: |
$7.7 billion f.o.b. (2002) |
| Exports
- commodities: |
machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals; textiles,
foodstuffs |
| Exports
- partners: |
Russia 53.7%, Latvia 6.5%, Ukraine 5.6%, Lithuania 3.7%, Poland, Germany
(2001) |
| Imports: |
$8.8 billion f.o.b. (2002) |
| Imports
- commodities: |
mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals
|
| Imports
- partners: |
Russia 65%, Germany 7.3%, Ukraine 3.4%, Poland 2.5% (2001) |
| Debt
- external: |
$851 million (2001 est.) |
| Economic
aid - recipient: |
$194.3 million (1995) |
| Currency: |
Belarusian ruble (BYB/BYR) |
| Currency
code: |
BYB/BYR |
| Exchange
rates: |
Belarusian rubles per US dollar - NA (2002), 1,390 (2001), 876.75 (2000),
248.795 (1999), 46.1272 (1998) |
| Fiscal
year: |
calendar year
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