@Belarus:Geography
Location: Eastern Europe, east of Poland
Geographic coordinates: 53 00 N, 28 00 E
Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States
Area: total: 207,600 sq km land: 207,600 sq km water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Kansas
Land boundaries:
total: 3,098 km
border countries: Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 605 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
Land use: arable land : 29% permanent crops: 1% permanent pastures: 15% forests and woodland: 34% other: 21% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 1,000 sq km (1993 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, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: Climate Change, Law of the Sea
Geography - note: landlocked
@Belarus:People
Population: 10,412,219 (July 1997 est.)
Age structure: 0–14 years: 21% (male 1,092,760; female 1,047,992) 15–64 years : 66% (male 3,346,111; female 3,547,352) 65 years and over: 13% (male 452,267; female 925,737) (July 1997 est.)
Population growth rate: −0.01% (1997 est.)
Birth rate: 9.75 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)
Death rate: 13.23 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)
Net migration rate: 3.38 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15–64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.49 male(s)/female total population: 0.89 male(s)/female (1997 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 13.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 68.4 years male: 62.48 years female: 74.61 years (1997 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.35 children born/woman (1997 est.)
Nationality: noun: Belarusian(s) adjective: Belarusian
Ethnic groups: Byelorussian 77.9%, Russian 13.2%, Polish 4.1%,
Ukrainian 2.9%, other 1.9%
Religions: Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic,
Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.)
Languages: Byelorussian, Russian, other
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 98% male : 99% female: 97% (1989 est.)
@Belarus:Government
Country name: 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
Data code: BO
Government type: republic
National capital: Minsk
Administrative divisions: 6 voblastsi (singular - voblasts') and one municipality* (harady, singular - horad); Brestskaya (Brest), Homyel'skaya (Homyel'), Horad Minsk*, Hrodzyenskaya (Hrodna), Mahilyowskaya (Mahilyow), Minskaya, Vitsyebskaya (Vitsyebsk) note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)
Independence: 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union); the Belarusian
Supreme Soviet issued a proclamation of independence; on 17 July 1990
Belarus issued a declaration of sovereignty
National holiday: Independence Day, 3 July (1990); note - date set by referendum of November 1996
Constitution: referendum of 27 November 1996 (declared illegitimate by the international community) adopted a new constitution massing power in the hands of the president; signed into law on 28 November 1996
Legal system: based on civil law system
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994) head of government: Prime Minister Sergey LING (acting since NA November 1996, confirmed NA February 1997); First Deputy Prime Minister Pyotr PROKOPOVICH (since NA); Deputy Prime Ministers Vladimir GARKUN (since NA), Valeriy KOKAREV (since NA), Vladimir RUSAKEVICH (since NA), Vasyl DALGALYOV (since NA) cabinet: Council of Ministers elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 24 June and 10 July 1994 (next to be held NA 2001 because of the additional two years provided by the November 1996 referendum); prime minister appointed by the president election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO elected president; percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 85%, Vyacheslav KEBICH 15% note: first presidential elections took place in June-July 1994
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament established by the 28 November Constitution consists of the Council of the Republic (64 seats; the president appoints 8 and each oblast plus the Minsk city government elect 8) and the Chamber of Representatives (110 seats; note - present members came from the defunct Supreme Soviet) elections: last held May and November-December 1995 (two rounds, each with a run-off; next to be held NA 2000) election results : percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - KPB 42, Agrarian 33, CAB 9, Party of People's Concord 8, UPNAZ 2, SDPB 2, BPR 1, Green Party 1, Republican Party of Labor and Justice 1, BSP 1, NFB 1, Social and Sports Party 1, Ecological Party 1, independents 95, vacant 62; note - after the November 1996 referendum, seats for the Chamber of Representatives were filled by former Supreme Soviet members as follows: PKB 24, Agrarian 14, Party of Peoples Concord 5, LDPB 1, UPNAZ 1, Green World Party 1, Belarusian Social Sports Party 1, Ecological Party 1, Republican Party of Labor and Justice 1, independents 60; 58 of the 64 seats in the Council of the Republic have been appointed/elected
Judicial branch: Supreme Court, judges are appointed by the president; Constitutional Court, half of the judges appointed by the president and half appointed by the Chamber of Representatives
Political parties and leaders: Belarusian Communist Party or KPB
[Yefrem SOKOLOV and Viktor CHIKIN, chairmen]; Agrarian Party
[Aleksandr PAVLOV, chairman]; Civic Accord Bloc (United Civic Party)
or CAB [Stanislav BOGDANKEVICH, chairman]; Party of People's Concord
[Leonid SECHKO, chairman]; Party of All-Belarusian Unity and Concord
or UPNAZ [Dmitriy BULAKOV, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democrat
Hramada or SDBP [Nikolai STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Patriotic
Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR [Anatol BARANKEVICH];
Green Party of Belarus [Nikolai KARTASH, chairman]; Republican Party