Republic of Belarus
President: Alyaksandr Lukashenka (1994)
Prime Minister: Syarhey Sidorski (2003)
Total area: 80,154 sq mi (207,600 sq km)
Population (2009 est.): 9,648,533 (growth rate: -0.3%); birth rate: 9.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 6.4/1000; life expectancy: 70.6; density per sq km: 46
Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Mensk (Minsk), 1,769,५००
Other large cities: Gomel, 502,200; Mogilyov, 374,000; Vitebsk, 355,800; Grodno, 314,100; Brest, 306,300; Bobruysk, 228,१००
Monetary unit: Belorussian रुबले
National Name: Respublika Byelarus'
Languages: Belorussian (White Russian), Russian, ओथेर
Ethnicity/race: Belorussian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish 3.9%, Ukrainian 2.4%, other 1.1% (1999)
Religion: Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.)
National Holiday: Independence Day, July ३
Literacy rate: 100% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $105.2billion; per capita $10,900. Real growth rate: 8.2%. Inflation: 8.4%. Unemployment: 1.6% (2005 est.) officially registered unemployed; large number of underemployed workers. Arable land: 26.77%. Agriculture: grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk. Labor force: 4.3 million (Dec. 31, 2005); agriculture 14%, industry 34.7%, services 51.3% (2003 est.). Industries: metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, televisions, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators. Natural resources: forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay. Exports: $23.04 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals, textiles, foodstuffs. Imports: $27.57 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals. Major trading partners: Russia, UK, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Ukraine (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 3,368,000 (2006); mobile cellular: 2,239,300 (2004).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998).
Television broadcast stations: 47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995).
Internet hosts: 20,973 (2005). Internet users: 1.6 million (2005).
Transportation: Railways: total: 5,512 km (2004).
Highways: total: 79,990 km; paved: 69,351 km; unpaved: 10,639 km (2004).
Waterways: 2,500 km (use limited by location on perimeter of country and by shallowness) (2003).
Ports and harbors: Mazyr.
Airports: 101 (2005).
International disputes: 1997 boundary treaty with Ukraine remains unratified over unresolved financial claims, preventing demarcation and diminishing border security; the whole boundary with Latvia and more than half the boundary with Lithuania remains undemarcated; discussions toward economic and political union with Russia proceed slowly
