1993 Edition

Area

total area: 207,600 km2 land area: 207,600 km2 comparative area: slightly smaller than Kansas

Climate

mild and moist; transitional between continental and maritime

Coastline

0 km (landlocked)

Environment

southern part of Belarus highly contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl'

International disputes

none

Irrigated land

1,490 km2 (1990)

Land boundaries

total 3,098 km, Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 605 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km

Land use

arable land: 29% permanent crops: 0% meadows and pastures: 15% forest and woodland: 0% other: 56%

Location

Eastern Europe, between Poland and Russia

Map references

Asia, Commonwealth of Independent States - European States, Europe, Standard Time Zones of the World

Maritime claims

none; landlocked

Natural resources

forest land, peat deposits

Note

landlocked

Terrain

generally flat and contains much marshland

Birth rate

13.28 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate

11.1 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Ethnic divisions

Belarusian 77.9%, Russian 13.2%, Polish 4.1%, Ukrainian 2.9%, other 1.9%

Infant mortality rate

19.2 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)

Labor force

5.418 million by occupation: industry and construction 42%, agriculture and forestry 20%, other 38% (1990)

Languages

Byelorussian, Russian, other

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 70.73 years male: 66.04 years female: 75.66 years (1993 est.)

Literacy

age 9-49 can read and write (1970) total population: 100% male: 100% female: 100%

Nationality

noun: Belarusian(s) adjective: Belarusian

Net migration rate

1.26 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Population

10,370,269 (July 1993 est.)

Population growth rate

0.34% (1993 est.)

Religions

Eastern Orthodox NA%, other NA%

Total fertility rate

1.89 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Administrative divisions

6 oblasts (voblastsi, singular - voblasts') and one municipality* (harady,, singular - horad); Brestskaya, Homyel'skaya, Minsk*, Hrodzyenskaya,, Mahilyowskaya, Minskaya, Vitsyebskaya note: each voblasts' has the same name as its administrative center

APO AE 09862 telephone

7-0172-34-65-37

Capital

Minsk

Chief of State

Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Stanislav S. SHUSHKEVICH (since 18 September 1991)

Constitution

adopted NA April 1978

Digraph

BO

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission: Ambassador Designate Sergey Nikolayevich MARTYNOV chancery: 1511 K Street NW, Suite 619, Washington, DC 20036 telephone: (202) 638-2954

Executive branch

chairman of the Supreme Soviet, chairman of the Council of Ministers; note - Belarus has approved a directly elected presidency but so far no elections have been scheduled

Flag

three horizontal bands of white (top), red, and white

Head of Government

Prime Minister Vyacheslav F. KEBICH (since NA April 1990), First Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail MYASNIKOVICH (since NA 1991)

Independence

25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court

Legal system

based on civil law system

Legislative branch

unicameral Supreme Soviet

Member of

CBSS (observer), CIS, CSCE, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ILO, IMF, INMARSAT, IOC, ITU, NACC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

Names

conventional long form: Republic of Belarus conventional short form: Belarus local long form: Respublika Belarus local short form: none former: Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist Republic

National holiday

24 August (1991)

Political parties and leaders

Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), Zenon PAZNYAK, chairman; United Democratic Party of Belarus (UDPB), Aleksandr DOBROVOLSKIY, chairman; Social Democratic Party of Belarus (SDBP), Mikhail TKACHEV, chairman; Belarus Workers Union, Mikhail SOBOL, Chairman; Belarus Peasants Party; Party of People's Unity, Gennadiy KARPENKO; Communist Party of Belarus

Suffrage

18 years of age; universal

Supreme Soviet

last held 4 April 1990 (next to be held NA); 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

Type

republic

US diplomatic representation

chief of mission: Ambassador David H. SWARTZ embassy: Starovilenskaya #46, Minsk mailing address:

Agriculture

accounts for almost 25% of GDP and 5.7% of total agricultural output of former Soviet Union; employs 20% of the labor force; in 1988 produced the

(12.2%), vegetables (3.0%), meat (6.0%), milk (7.0%); net exporter of meat, milk, eggs, flour, potatoes

following (in percent of total Soviet production)

grain (3.6%), potatoes

Budget

revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Currency

1 rubel (abbreviation NA) = 10 Russian rubles note: the rubel circulates with the Russian ruble; certain purchase are made only with rubels; government has established a different, and varying, exchange rate for trade between Belarus and Russia

Economic aid

NA

Electricity

8,025,000 kW capacity; 37,600 million kWh produced, 3,626 kWh per capita (1992)

Exchange rates

NA

Exports

$1.1 billion to outside of the successor states of the former USSR (f.o.b., 1992) commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs partners: NA

External debt

$2.6 billion (end of 1991)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Illicit drugs

illicit producer of opium and cannabis; mostly for the domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe

Imports

$751 million from outside the successor states of the former USSR (c.i.f., 1992) commodities: machinery, chemicals, textiles partners: NA

Industrial production

growth rate -9.6%; accounts for about 50% of GDP (1992)

Industries

employ about 27% of labor force and produce a wide variety of products essential to the other states; products include (in percent share of total

(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

output of former Soviet Union)

tractors (12%); metal-cutting machine tools

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

30% per month (first quarter 1993)

National product

GDP $NA

National product per capita

$NA

National product real growth rate

-13% (1992 est.)

Overview

In many ways Belarus resembles the three Baltic states, for example, in its industrial competence, its higher-than-average standard of living, and its critical dependence on the other former Soviet states for fuels and raw materials. Belarus ranks fourth in gross output among the former Soviet republics, having produced 4% of the total GDP and employing 4% of the labor force in the old USSR. Once a mainly agricultural area, it now supplies important producer and consumer goods - sometimes as the sole producer - to the other states. Belarus had a significant share of the machine-building capacity of the former USSR. It is especially noted for production of tractors, large trucks, machine tools, and automation equipment. The soil in Belarus is not as fertile as the black earth of Ukraine, but by emphasizing favorable crops and livestock (especially pigs and chickens), Belarus has become a net exporter to the other former republics of meat, milk, eggs, flour, and potatoes. Belarus produces only small amounts of oil and gas and receives most of its fuel from Russia through the Druzhba oil pipeline and the Northern Lights gas pipeline. These pipelines transit Belarus en route to Eastern Europe. Belarus produces petrochemicals, plastics, synthetic fibers (nearly 30% of former Soviet output), and fertilizer (20% of former Soviet output). Raw material resources are limited to potash and peat deposits. The peat (more than one-third of the total for the former Soviet Union) is used in domestic heating, as boiler fuel for electric power stations, and in the production of chemicals. The potash supports fertilizer production. In 1992 GDP fell an estimated 13%, largely because the country is highly dependent on the ailing Russian economy for raw materials and parts.

Unemployment rate

0.5% of officially registered unemployed; large numbers of underemployed workers

Airports

total: 124 useable: 55 with permanent-surface runways: 31 with runways over 3,659 m: 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 28 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 20

Highways

98,200 km total; 66,100 km hard surfaced, 32,100 km earth (1990)

Inland waterways

NA km

Merchant marine

claims 5% of former Soviet fleet

Pipelines

crude oil 1,470 km, refined products 1,100 km, natural gas 1,980 km (1992)

Ports

none; landlocked

Railroads

5,570 km; does not include industrial lines (1990)

Telecommunications

construction of NMT-450 analog cellular network proceeding in Minsk, in addition to installation of some 300 km of fiber optic cable in the city network; telephone network has 1.7 million lines, 15% of which are switched automatically; Minsk has 450,000 lines; telephone density is approximately 17 per 100 persons; as of 1 December 1991, 721,000 applications from households for telephones were still unsatisfied; international connections to other former Soviet republics are by landline or microwave and to other countries by leased connection through the Moscow international gateway switch; Belarus has not constructed ground stations for international telecommunications via satellite to date

Branches

Army, Air Forces, Air Defense Forces, Security Forces (internal and border troops)

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

Manpower availability

males age 15-49 2,491,039; fit for military service 1,964,577; reach military age (18) annually 71,875 (1993 est.)