| | World Fact Book | Mark H. Solsman | Documentation Training and Publications, Center for Academic Computing | mhs108@psu.edu 10/19/93 I _@_Belarus Geography Total area: 207,600 km2 Land area: 207,600 km2 Comparative area: slightly smaller than Kansas Land boundaries: 3,098 km total; Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 605 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km Coastline: none - landlocked Maritime claims: none - landlocked Disputes: none Climate: mild and moist; transitional between continental and maritime Terrain: generally flat and contains much marshland Natural resources: forest land and peat deposits Land use: arable land NA%; permanent crops NA%; meadows and pastures NA%; forest and woodland NA%; other NA%; includes irrigated NA% Environment: southern part of Belarus highly contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl' Note: landlocked :Belarus People Population: 10,373,881 (July 1992), growth rate 0.5% (1992) Birth rate: 15 births/1,000 population (1992) Death rate: 11 deaths/1,000 population (1992) Net migration rate: 1 migrant/1,000 population (1992) Infant mortality rate: 20 deaths/1,000 live births (1992) Life expectancy at birth: 66 years male, 76 years female (1992) Total fertility rate: 2.1 children born/woman (1992) Nationality: noun - Belarusian(s); adjective - Belarusian Ethnic divisions: Byelorussian 77.9%, Russian 13.2%, Poles 4.1%, Ukrainian 2.9%, Jews 1.1%, other 0.8% Religions: Russian Orthodox NA%, unknown NA%, none NA%, other NA% Languages: Byelorussian NA%, Russian NA%, other NA% Literacy: NA% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can read and write Labor force: 5,418,000; industry and construction 42%, agriculture and forestry 20%, other 38% (1990) Organized labor: NA :Belarus Government Long-form name: Republic of Belarus Type: republic Capital: Mensk Administrative divisions: 6 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast'); Brest, Gomel', Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev, Vitebsk; note - all oblasts have the same name as their administrative center Independence: 1 January 1919 Belorussian Republic; 30 December 1922 joined with the USSR; 25 August 1991 redeclared independence Constitution: adopted April 1978 Legal system: based on civil law system National holiday: 24 August (1991) Executive branch: NA Legislative branch: unicameral with 360 seats Judicial branch: NA Leaders: Chief of State: Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Stanislav S. SHUSHKEVICH (since NA 1991) Head of Government: Prime Minister Vyacheslav F. KEBICH (since NA April 1990), First Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail MYASNIKOVICH (since early 1991) Political parties and leaders: Belarusian Popular Front, Zenon POZNYAK, chairman; United Democratic Party, Stanislav GUSAK, co-chairman; Social Democratic Gramada, Mikhail TKACHEV, chairman; Belarus Workers Union, Mikhail SOBOL, Chairman Suffrage: universal at age 18 Elections: President: NA Supreme Soviet: last held 4 March 1990 (next to be held NA); results - percent of vote by party NA; seats - (360 total) number of seats by party NA; note - 50 seats are for public bodies Communists: NA Other political or pressure groups: NA Member of: CE, CIS, CSCE, ECE, IAEA, ILO, INMARSAT, IOC, ITU, NACC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Martynov; Chancery at NA NW, Washington, DC 200__; telephone NA US: Ambassador (vacant); David SWARTZ, Charge d'Affaires; Embassy at Hotel Belarus (telephone 8-011-7-0172-69-08-02) plus 7 hours; (mailing address is APO New York is 09862); telephone NA Flag: white, red, and white :Belarus Economy Overview: In many ways Belarus resembles the three Baltic states, for example, in its industrial competence, its higher-than-average standard of living, and its critical dependence on the other former Soviet states for fuels and raw materials. Belarus ranks fourth in gross output among the former Soviet republics, producing 4% of the total GDP and employing 4% of the labor force. Once a mainly agricultural area, it now supplies important producer and consumer goods - sometimes as the sole producer - to the other states. The soil in Belarus is not as fertile as the black earth of Ukraine, but by emphasizing favorable crops and livestock (especially pigs and chickens), Belarus has become a net exporter to the other republics of meat, milk, eggs, flour, and potatoes. Belarus produces only small amounts of oil and gas and receives most of its fuel from Russia through the Druzhba oil pipeline and the Northern Lights gas pipeline. These pipelines transit Belarus enroute to Eastern Europe. Belarus produces petrochemicals, plastics, synthetic fibers (nearly 30% of former Soviet output), and fertilizer (20% of former Soviet output). Raw material resources are limited to potash and peat deposits. The peat (more than one-third of the total for the former Soviet Union) is used in domestic heating as boiler fuel for electric power stations and in the production of chemicals. The potash supports fertilizer production. GDP: NA - $NA, per capita $NA; real growth rate --2% (1991) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 81% (1991) Unemployment rate: NA% Budget: revenues $NA million; expenditures $NA million, including capital expenditures of $NA million Exports: $4.3 billion (f.o.b., 1990) commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs partners: NA Imports: $5.6 billion (c.i.f., 1990) commodities: machinery, chemicals, textiles partners: NA External debt: $2.6 billion (end of 1991) Industrial production: growth rate --1.5% (1991) Electricity: 7,500,000 kW capacity; 38,700 million kWh produced, 3,770 kWh per capita (1991) :Belarus Economy Industries: employ about 27% of labor force and produce a wide variety of products essential to the other states; products include (in percent share of total output of former Soviet Union): tractors(12%); metal-cutting machine tools (11%); off-highway dump trucksup to 110-metric- ton load capacity (100%); wheel-type earthmovers for construction and mining (100%); eight- wheel-drive, high-flotation trucks with cargo capacity of 25 metric tons for use in tundra and roadless areas (100%); equipment for animal husbandry and livestock feeding (25%); motorcycles (21.3%); television sets (11%); chemical fibers (28%); fertilizer (18%); linen fabric (11%); wool fabric (7%); radios; refrigerators; and other consumer goods Agriculture: accounts for 5.7% of total agricultural output of former Soviet Union; employs 29% of the labor force; in 1988 produced the following (in percent of total Soviet production): grain (3.6%), potatoes (12.2%), vegetables (3.0%), meat (6.0%), milk (7.0%); net exporter of meat, milk, eggs, flour, and potatoes Illicit drugs: illicit producer of opium mostly for the domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe Economic aid: NA Currency: as of May 1992, retaining ruble as currency Exchange rates: NA Fiscal year: calendar year :Belarus Communications Railroads: 5,570 km (includes NA km electrified); does not include industrial lines (1990) Highways: 98,200 km total (1990); 66,100 km hard surfaced, 32,100 km earth Inland waterways: NA km Pipelines: NA Ports: none - landlocked Merchant marine: none - landlocked Civil air: NA major transport aircraft Airports: NA Telecommunications: telephone network has 1.7 million lines, 15% of which are switched automatically; Minsk has 450,000 lines; telephone density is approximately 17 per 100 persons; as of 31 January 1990, 721,000 applications from households for telephones were still unsatisfied; international connections to other former Soviet republics are by landline or microwave and to other countries by leased connection through the Moscow international gateway switch :Belarus Defense Forces Branches: Republic Security Forces (internal and border troops); CIS Forces (Ground, Air, Air Defense, Strategic Rocket) Manpower availability: males 15-49, NA; NA fit for military service; NA reach military age (18) annually Defense expenditures: $NA, NA% of GDP .