The 2001 CIA World Factbook. United States. Central Intelligence Agency
- international agreements: party to: Air Pollution,
Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea
Geography - note: landlocked
Belarus People
Population: 10,350,194 (July 2001 est.)
Age structure: 0–14 years: 17.93% (male 947,820; female 908,210)
15–64 years: 68.21% (male 3,428,920; female 3,631,290)
65 years and over: 13.86% (male 473,992; female 959,962) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate: −0.15% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 9.57 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 13.97 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate: 2.89 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 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: 0.88 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 14.38 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 68.14 years
male: 62.06 years
female: 74.52 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.28 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.28% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 14,000 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 400 (1999 est.)
Nationality: noun: Belarusian(s)
adjective: Belarusian
Ethnic groups: Byelorussian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish, Ukrainian, and other 7.4%
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
Government type: republic
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 - when using a place name with the adjectival ending 'skaya' the word voblasts' should be added to the place name
note: voblasti have the administrative center name following in parentheses
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: 30 March 1994; revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 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 Vladimir YERMOSHIN (since 18 February 2000); First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey KOBYAKOV (since 13 March 2000); Deputy Prime Ministers Mikhail DEMCHUK (since 14 July 2000), Mikhail KHORSTOV (since 27 November 2000), Valeriy KOKOREV (since 23 August 1994), Leonid KOZIK (since 4 February 1997), Gennadiy NOVITSKIY (since 11 February 1997), Aleksandr POPKOV (since 10 November 1998)
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 (next to be held NA; according to the 1994 constitution, the next election should have been held in 1999, however LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via the November 1996 referendum); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president
election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO elected president; percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 85%, Vyacheslav KEBICH 15%
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Natsionalnoye Sobranie consists of the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64 seats) and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata Pretsaviteley (110 seats)
elections: last held October 2000 (next to be held NA)
election results: party affiliation data unavailable; under present political conditions party designations are meaningless
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: Agrarian Party or AP [Semyon
SHARETSKY, chairman]; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB [Viktor
CHIKIN, chairman]; Belarusian Ecological Green Party (merger of
Belarusian Ecological Party and Green Party of Belarus) [leader NA];
Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR
[Anatoliy BARANKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Popular Front or BNF
[Vintsuk VYACHORKA]; Belarusian Social-Democrat or SDBP [Nikolay
STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party Hromada
[Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Socialist Party
[Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV]; Civic Accord Bloc (United Civic Party) or
CAB [Stanislav BOGDANKEVICH, chairman]; Liberal Democratic Party or
LDPB [Sergei GAYDUKEVICH, chairman]; Party of Communists Belarusian
or PKB [Sergei KALYAKIN, chairman]; Republican Party of Labor and
Justice or RPPS [Anatoliy NETYLKIN, chairman]; Social-Democrat Party
of Popular Accord or PPA [Leanid SECHKA]; Women's Party Nadezhda
[Valentina POLEVIKOVA, chairperson]
Political pressure groups and leaders: NA
International organization participation: CCC, CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD,
ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Inmarsat,
Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO,
ITU, NAM, NSG, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO (observer)
Diplomatic