Key Demographic Features of Belarus *
Location: Eastern Europe, east of Poland
Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States
People
Population: 10,415,973 (July 1996 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 21% (male 1,136,499; female 1,090,101)
15-64 years: 66% (male 3,334,077; female 3,536,982)
65 years and over: 13% (male 429,574; female 888,740) (July
1996 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.2% (1996 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 13.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1996
est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 68.57 years
male: 63.2 years
female: 74.21 years (1996 est.)
Ethnic divisions: Byelorussian 77.9%, Russian 13.2%, Polish
4.1%, Ukrainian 2.9%, other 1.9%
Religions: Eastern Orthodox 60%, other (including Roman
Catholic and Muslim) 40% (early 1990's)
Languages: Byelorussian, Russian, other
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1989 est.)
total population: 98%
male: 99%
female: 97%
Government
Country Abbreviation: BO
Type of government: republic
Independence:
National holiday: Independence Day, 27 July (1990)
Constitution: adopted 15 March 1994; replaces constitution
of April 1978
Legal system: based on civil law system
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
elections last held May, Nov-Dec 1995 (two rounds, each with a
run-off; next to be held NA 2000); results - percent of vote by
party NA; seats - (260 total) 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
Judicial branch: Supreme Court, judges are appointed by the
president; Constitutional Court
Political parties and leaders:
International organization participation: CCC, CE (guest),
CIS, EBRD, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Intelsat (nonsignatory
user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NACC, OSCE, PCA,
PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO
(applicant)
Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Sergey Nikolayevich MARTYNOV
chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20009
telephone: [1] (202) 986-1604
FAX: [1] (202) 986-1805
consulate(s) general: New York
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Kenneth Spencer YALOWITZ
embassy: Starovilenskaya #46-220002, Minsk
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [375] (172) 31-50-00
FAX: [375] (172) 34-78-53
Flag:
Economy
Economic overview:
GDP: purchasing power parity - $49.2 billion (1995 estimate
as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)
GDP real growth rate: -10% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $4,700 (1995 est.)
Unemployment rate: 2.6% officially registered unemployed
(December 1994); large numbers of underemployed workers
Communications
Telephones: 1.849 million (1991 est.)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 35, FM 18, shortwave 0
Radios: 3.17 million (1991 est.) (5,615,000 with multiple
speaker systems for program diffusion)
Television broadcast stations: 2 (one national and one
private; the license of the private station was suspended during
the parliamentary elections of 1994)
Televisions: 3.5 million (1992 est.)
*Source: World Factbook 1996, U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency
The World Factbook contains many additional demographic
variables that may be of interest to persons who wish to examine
a particular country in more depth. To access the World Factbook,
Click
Here. (This link opens a new window.)
|
|
