Belarus

Geography

Location: Eastern Europe, between Poland and Russia

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

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

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 Belarus 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, Biodiversity, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection; signed, but not ratified - Climate Change, Law of the Sea

Note: landlocked

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People

History

Population: 10,404,862 (July 1994 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.32% (1994 est.)

Birth rate: 13.12 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Death rate: 11.16 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.27 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 18.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 70.88 years
male: 66.2 years
female: 75.79 years (1994 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.88 children born/woman (1994 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 9-49 can read and write (1979)
total population: 100%
male: 100%
female: 100%

Labor force: 4.887 million
by occupation: industry and construction 40%, agriculture and forestry 21%, other 39% (1992)

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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'),

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