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Communications

Airports [time series]

Civil air [time series]

NA major transport aircraft

Roadways (Highways) [time series]

98,200 km total (1990); 66,100 km hard surfaced, 32,100 km earth

Waterways (Inland waterways) [time series]

NA km

Merchant marine [time series]

none - landlocked

Pipelines [time series]

Ports [time series]

none - landlocked

Railways (Railroads) [time series]

5,570 km (includes NA km electrified); does not include industrial lines (1990)

Telecommunication systems (Telecommunications) [time series]

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

Defense Forces

Military and security forces (Branches) [time series]

Republic Security Forces (internal and border troops); CIS Forces (Ground, Air, Air Defense, Strategic Rocket)

Military expenditures (Defense expenditures) [time series]

$NA, NA% of GDP

Manpower availability [time series]

males 15-49, NA; NA fit for military service; NA reach military age (18) annually

Economy

Agricultural products (Agriculture) [time series]

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

Budget [time series]

revenues $NA million; expenditures $NA million, including capital expenditures of $NA million

Exchange rates (Currency) [time series]

as of May 1992, retaining ruble as currency

Economic aid [time series]

Electricity [time series]

7,500,000 kW capacity; 38,700 million kWh produced, 3,770 kWh per capita (1991)

Exchange rates [time series]

Exports [time series]

$4.3 billion (f.o.b., 1990) commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs partners: NA

Debt - external (External debt) [time series]

$2.6 billion (end of 1991)

Fiscal year [time series]

calendar year

Real GDP (purchasing power parity) (GDP) [time series]

NA - $NA, per capita $NA; real growth rate --2% (1991)

Illicit drugs [time series]

illicit producer of opium mostly for the domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe

Imports [time series]

$5.6 billion (c.i.f., 1990) commodities: machinery, chemicals, textiles partners: NA

Industrial production growth rate (Industrial production) [time series]

growth rate --1.5% (1991)

Industries [time series]

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices) [time series]

81% (1991)

Economic overview (Overview) [time series]

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.

Unemployment rate [time series]

NA%

Geography

Climate [time series]

mild and moist; transitional between continental and maritime

Coastline [time series]

none - landlocked

Area - comparative (Comparative area) [time series]

slightly smaller than Kansas

Disputes - international (Disputes) [time series]

none

Environment - current issues (Environment) [time series]

southern part of Belarus highly contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl'

Area (Land area) [time series]

207,600 km2

Land boundaries [time series]

3,098 km total; Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 605 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km

Land use [time series]

arable land NA%; permanent crops NA%; meadows and pastures NA%; forest and woodland NA%; other NA%; includes irrigated NA%

Maritime claims [time series]

none - landlocked

Natural resources [time series]

forest land and peat deposits

Note [time series]

landlocked

Terrain [time series]

generally flat and contains much marshland

Area (Total area) [time series]

207,600 km2

Government

Administrative divisions [time series]

6 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast'); Brest, Gomel', Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev, Vitebsk; note - all oblasts have the same name as their administrative center

Capital [time series]

Mensk

Political parties (Communists) [time series]

Constitution [time series]

adopted April 1978

Diplomatic representation in the US (Diplomatic representation) [time series]

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

Executive branch (Elections) [time series]

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

Executive branch [time series]

Flag [time series]

white, red, and white

Independence [time series]

1 January 1919 Belorussian Republic; 30 December 1922 joined with the USSR; 25 August 1991 redeclared independence

Judicial branch [time series]

Executive branch (Leaders) [time series]

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)

Legal system [time series]

based on civil law system

Legislative branch [time series]

unicameral with 360 seats

Country name (Long-form name) [time series]

Republic of Belarus

International organization participation (Member of) [time series]

CE, CIS, CSCE, ECE, IAEA, ILO, INMARSAT, IOC, ITU, NACC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

National holiday [time series]

24 August (1991)

Political parties (Other political or pressure groups) [time series]

Political parties (Political parties and leaders) [time series]

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 [time series]

universal at age 18

Government type (Type) [time series]

republic

People

Birth rate [time series]

15 births/1,000 population (1992)

Death rate [time series]

11 deaths/1,000 population (1992)

Ethnic groups (Ethnic divisions) [time series]

Byelorussian 77.9%, Russian 13.2%, Poles 4.1%, Ukrainian 2.9%, Jews 1.1%, other 0.8%

Infant mortality rate [time series]

20 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)

Labor force [time series]

5,418,000; industry and construction 42%, agriculture and forestry 20%, other 38% (1990)

Languages [time series]

Byelorussian NA%, Russian NA%, other NA%

Life expectancy at birth [time series]

66 years male, 76 years female (1992)

Literacy [time series]

NA% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can read and write

Nationality [time series]

noun - Belarusian(s); adjective - Belarusian

Net migration rate [time series]

1 migrant/1,000 population (1992)

Organized labor [time series]

Population [time series]

10,373,881 (July 1992), growth rate 0.5% (1992)

Religions [time series]

Russian Orthodox NA%, unknown NA%, none NA%, other NA%

Total fertility rate [time series]

2.1 children born/woman (1992)