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-Sulfur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
landlocked; glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and for its 11,000 lakes
People
Belarus
Population:
9,685,768 (July 2008 est.)
Age structure:
0–14 years: 14.4% (male 717,885/female 677,254) 15–64 years: 70.9% (male 3,333,699/female 3,531,920) 65 years and over: 14.7% (male 459,627/female 965,383) (2008 est.)
Median age:
total: 38.4 years male: 35.4 years female: 41.3 years (2008 est.)
Population growth rate:
−0.393% (2008 est.)
Birth rate:
9.62 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death rate:
13.92 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net migration rate:
0.38 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15–64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.48 male(s)/female total population: 0.87 male(s)/female (2008 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 6.53 deaths/1,000 live births male: 7.56 deaths/1,000 live births female: 5.44 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 70.34 years male: 64.63 years female: 76.4 years (2008 est.)
Total fertility rate:
1.23 children born/woman (2008 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.3% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
15,000 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
1,000 (2001 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Belarusian(s) adjective: Belarusian
Ethnic groups:
Belarusian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish 3.9%, Ukrainian 2.4%, other 1.1% (1999 census)
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: 99.4% (1999 census)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 15 years male: 14 years female: 15 years (2006)
Education expenditures:
6.1% of GDP (2006)
Government
Belarus
Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Belarus conventional short form: Belarus local long form: Respublika Byelarus' local short form: Byelarus' former: Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist Republic
Government type:
republic in name, although in fact a dictatorship
Capital:
name: Minsk geographic coordinates: 53 54 N, 27 34 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Administrative divisions:
6 provinces (voblastsi, singular - voblasts') and 1 municipality* (horad); Brest, Homyel', Horad Minsk*, Hrodna, Mahilyow, Minsk, Vitsyebsk note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers
Independence:
25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
National holiday:
Independence Day, 3 July (1944); note - 3 July 1944 was the date Minsk was liberated from German troops, 25 August 1991 was the date of independence from the Soviet Union
Constitution:
15 March 1994; revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November 1996; revised again 17 October 2004 removing presidential term limits
Legal system:
based on civil law system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994) head of government: Prime Minister Sergey SIDORSKIY (since 19 December 2003); First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir SEMASHKO (since December 2003) cabinet: Council of Ministers elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; first election took place 23 June and 10 July 1994; according to the 1994 constitution, the next election should have been held in 1999, however, Aleksandr LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via a November 1996 referendum; subsequent election held 9 September 2001; an October 2004 referendum ended presidential term limits and allowed the president to run in a third election, which was held on 19 March 2006; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO reelected president; percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 82.6%, Aleksandr MILINKEVICH 6%, Aleksandr KOZULIN 2.3%; note - election marred by electoral fraud
Legislative branch:
bicameral National Assembly or Natsionalnoye Sobranie consists of the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64 seats; 56 members elected by regional councils and eight members appointed by the president, to serve four-year terms) and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata Predstaviteley (110 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: Palata Predstaviteley - last held 28 September 2008 (next to be held fall of 2012); international observers widely denounced the elections as flawed and undemocratic based on massive government falsification; pro-LUKASHENKO candidates won all 110 seats election results: Soviet Respubliki - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; Palata Predstaviteley - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA
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:
pro-government parties: Agrarian Party or AP [Mikhail SHIMANSKY]; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB;