Profile
Background and figures as recorded in the CIA World Factbook.
After seven decades as a constituent republic of the USSR, Belarus attained its independence in 1991. It has retained closer political and economic ties to Russia than any of the other former Soviet republics. In 1999, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty on a two-state union, envisioning greater political and economic integration. Although Belarus agreed to a framework to carry out the accord, serious implementation has yet to take place and negotiations on further integration have been contentious.
- Capital
- Minsk
- Government
- presidential republic in name, although in fact a dictatorship
- Population
- 9,460,972
- Area
- 207,600 sq km
- Location
- Eastern Europe, east of Poland
- Climate
- cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime
- Natural resources
- timber; peat deposits; small quantities of oil and natural gas; granite; dolomitic limestone; marl…
- Languages
- Russian (official) 71.4%; Belarusian (official) 26%; other 0.3% (includes small Polish- and Ukrainian-speaking minorities); unspecified 2.3%
- Religions
- Orthodox 48.3%; Catholic 7.1%; other 3.5%; non-believers 41.1%
- Independence
- 25 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union)
- Administrative divisions
- 6 regions (voblastsi, singular - voblasts') and 1 municipality* (horad);
- Currency
- Belarusian rubles (BYB/BYR)
- Export partners
- China 34%; Kazakhstan 10%; Uzbekistan 7%; Poland 6%…
- Import partners
- China 33%; Poland 16%; Germany 11%; Lithuania 10%…
Source: CIA World Factbook — a work of the US government, in the public domain