959 km, Ukraine 891 kmCoastline:
0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims:
none; landlocked
International disputes:
none
Climate:
cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental
and maritime
Terrain:
generally flat and contains much marshland
Natural resources:
forest land, peat deposits
Land use:
arable land:
29%
permanent crops:
1%
meadows and pastures:
15%
forest and woodland:
0%
other:
55%
Irrigated land:
1,490 sq km (1990)
Environment:
current issues:
soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of Belarus
contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at
Chornobyl'
natural hazards:
NA
international agreements:
party to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulphur, Biodiversity, Environmental Modification, Marine
Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection; signed, but not ratified - Climate
Change, Law of the Sea
Note:
landlocked
@Belarus, People
Population:
10,404,862 (July 1994 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.32% (1994 est.)
Birth rate:
13.12 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Death rate:
11.16 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Net migration rate:
1.27 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
18.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
70.88 years
male:
66.2 years
female:
75.79 years (1994 est.)
Total fertility rate:
1.88 children born/woman (1994 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Belarusian(s)
adjective:
Belarusian
Ethnic divisions:
Byelorussian 77.9%, Russian 13.2%, Polish 4.1%, Ukrainian 2.9%, other
1.9%
Religions:
Eastern Orthodox, other
Languages:
Byelorussian, Russian, other
Literacy:
age 9–49 can read and write (1979)
total population:
100%
male:
100%
female:
100%
Labor force:
4.887 million
by occupation:
industry and construction 40%, agriculture and forestry 21%, other 39%
(1992)
@Belarus, Government
Names:
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
Digraph:
BO
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:
the administrative centers of the voblastsi are included in
