| *Belarus, Geography Location: Eastern Europe, between Poland and Russia Map references: Asia, Commonwealth of Independent States - European States, Europe, Standard Time Zones of the World Area: total area: 207,600 km2 land area: 207,600 km2 comparative area: slightly smaller than Kansas Land boundaries: total 3,098 km, Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 605 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km Coastline: km (landlocked) Maritime claims: none; landlocked International disputes: none Climate: mild and moist; 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: 0% meadows and pastures: 15% forest and woodland: 0% other: 56% Irrigated land: 1,490 km2 (1990) Environment: southern part of Belarus highly contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl' Note: landlocked *Belarus, People Population: 10,370,269 (July 1993 est.) Population growth rate: 0.34% (1993 est.) Birth rate: 13.28 births/1,000 population (1993 est.) Death rate: 11.1 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.) Net migration rate: 1.26 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.) Infant mortality rate: 19.2 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.) Life expectancy at birth: total population: 70.73 years male: 66.04 years female: 75.66 years (1993 est.) Total fertility rate: 1.89 children born/woman (1993 est.) Nationality: noun: Belarusian(s) adjective: Belarusian Ethnic divisions: Belarusian 77.9%, Russian 13.2%, Polish 4.1%, Ukrainian 2.9%, other 1.9% Religions: Eastern Orthodox NA%, other NA% Languages: Byelorussian, Russian, other Literacy: age 9-49 can read and write (1970) total population: 100% male: 100% female: 100% Labor force: 5.418 million by occupation: industry and construction 42%, agriculture and forestry 20%, other 38% (1990) *Belarus, Government Names: conventional long form: Republic of Belarus conventional short form: Belarus local long form: Respublika Belarus local short form: none former: Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist Republic Digraph: BO Type: republic Capital: Minsk Administrative divisions: 6 oblasts (voblastsi, singular - voblasts') and one municipality* (harady,, singular - horad); Brestskaya, Homyel'skaya, Minsk*, Hrodzyenskaya,, Mahilyowskaya, Minskaya, Vitsyebskaya note: each voblasts' has the same name as its administrative center Independence: 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union) Constitution: adopted NA April 1978 Legal system: based on civil law system National holiday: 24 August (1991) Political parties and leaders: Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), Zenon PAZNYAK, chairman; United Democratic Party of Belarus (UDPB), Aleksandr DOBROVOLSKIY, chairman; Social Democratic Party of Belarus (SDBP), Mikhail TKACHEV, chairman; Belarus Workers Union, Mikhail SOBOL, Chairman; Belarus Peasants Party; Party of People's Unity, Gennadiy KARPENKO; Communist Party of Belarus Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal Elections: Supreme Soviet: last held 4 April 1990 (next to be held NA); results - Communists 87%; seats - (360 total) number of seats by party NA; note - 50 seats are for public bodies; the Communist Party obtained an overwhelming majority Executive branch: chairman of the Supreme Soviet, chairman of the Council of Ministers; note - Belarus has approved a directly elected presidency but so far no elections have been scheduled Legislative branch: unicameral Supreme Soviet Judicial branch: Supreme Court Leaders: Chief of State: Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Stanislav S. SHUSHKEVICH (since 18 September 1991) Head of Government: Prime Minister Vyacheslav F. KEBICH (since NA April 1990), First Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail MYASNIKOVICH (since NA 1991) *Belarus, Government Member of: CBSS (observer), CIS, CSCE, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ILO, IMF, INMARSAT, IOC, ITU, NACC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO Diplomatic representation in US: chief of mission: Ambassador Designate Sergey Nikolayevich MARTYNOV chancery: 1511 K Street NW, Suite 619, Washington, DC 20036 telephone: (202) 638-2954 US diplomatic representation: chief of mission: Ambassador David H. SWARTZ embassy: Starovilenskaya #46, Minsk mailing address: APO AE 09862 telephone: 7-0172-34-65-37 Flag: three horizontal bands of white (top), 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, having produced 4% of the total GDP and employing 4% of the labor force in the old USSR. Once a mainly agricultural area, it now supplies important producer and consumer goods - sometimes as the sole producer - to the other states. Belarus had a significant share of the machine-building capacity of the former USSR. It is especially noted for production of tractors, large trucks, machine tools, and automation equipment. 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 former 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 en route 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. In 1992 GDP fell an estimated 13%, largely because the country is highly dependent on the ailing Russian economy for raw materials and parts. National product: GDP $NA National product real growth rate: -13% (1992 est.) National product per capita: $NA Inflation rate (consumer prices): 30% per month (first quarter 1993) Unemployment rate: 0.5% of officially registered unemployed; large numbers of underemployed workers Budget: revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA Exports: $1.1 billion to outside of the successor states of the former USSR (f.o.b., 1992) commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs partners: NA Imports: $751 million from outside the successor states of the former USSR (c.i.f., 1992) commodities: machinery, chemicals, textiles partners: NA External debt: $2.6 billion (end of 1991) Industrial production: growth rate -9.6%; accounts for about 50% of GDP (1992) *Belarus, Economy Electricity: 8,025,000 kW capacity; 37,600 million kWh produced, 3,626 kWh per capita (1992) 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 trucks up 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 almost 25% of GDP and 5.7% of total agricultural output of former Soviet Union; employs 20% 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, potatoes Illicit drugs: illicit producer of opium and cannabis; mostly for the domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe Economic aid: NA Currency: 1 rubel (abbreviation NA) = 10 Russian rubles note: the rubel circulates with the Russian ruble; certain purchase are made only with rubels; government has established a different, and varying, exchange rate for trade between Belarus and Russia Exchange rates: NA Fiscal year: calendar year *Belarus, Communications Railroads: 5,570 km; does not include industrial lines (1990) Highways: 98,200 km total; 66,100 km hard surfaced, 32,100 km earth (1990) Inland waterways: NA km Pipelines: crude oil 1,470 km, refined products 1,100 km, natural gas 1,980 km (1992) Ports: none; landlocked Merchant marine: claims 5% of former Soviet fleet Airports: total: 124 useable: 55 with permanent-surface runways: 31 with runways over 3,659 m: 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 28 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 20 Telecommunications: construction of NMT-450 analog cellular network proceeding in Minsk, in addition to installation of some 300 km of fiber optic cable in the city network; 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 1 December 1991, 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 has not constructed ground stations for international telecommunications via satellite to date *Belarus, Defense Forces Branches: Army, Air Forces, Air Defense Forces, Security Forces (internal and border troops) Manpower availability: males age 15-49 2,491,039; fit for military service 1,964,577; reach military age (18) annually 71,875 (1993 est.) Defense expenditures: 56.5 billion rubles, NA% of GDP (1993 est.); note - conversion of the military budget into US dollars using the current exchange rate could produce misleading results | |
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