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 representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
Valeriy TSEPAKLO
chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009
telephone: [1] (202) 986–1604
FAX: [1] (202) 986–1805
consulate(s) general: New York
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
Michael KOZAK
embassy: 46 Starovilenskaya St., Minsk 220002
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [375] (17) 210–12-83
FAX: [375] (17) 234–7853
Flag description: red horizontal band (top) and green horizontal band one-half the width of the red band; a white vertical stripe on the hoist side bears the Belarusian national ornament in red
Belarus Economy
Economy - overview: Belarus has seen little structural reform since 1995, when President LUKASHENKO launched the country on the path of "market socialism." In keeping with this policy, LUKASHENKO reimposed administrative controls over prices and currency exchange rates and expanded the state's right to intervene in the management of private enterprise. In addition
