The 2001 CIA World Factbook. United States. Central Intelligence Agency

- international agreements: party to: Air Pollution,

       Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85,

       Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental

       Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer

       Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

      signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea

      Geography - note: landlocked

      Belarus People

      Population: 10,350,194 (July 2001 est.)

      Age structure: 0–14 years: 17.93% (male 947,820; female 908,210)

      15–64 years: 68.21% (male 3,428,920; female 3,631,290)

      65 years and over: 13.86% (male 473,992; female 959,962) (2001 est.)

      Population growth rate: −0.15% (2001 est.)

      Birth rate: 9.57 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)

      Death rate: 13.97 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)

      Net migration rate: 2.89 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)

      Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female

      under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female

      15–64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female

      65 years and over: 0.49 male(s)/female

      total population: 0.88 male(s)/female (2001 est.)

      Infant mortality rate: 14.38 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)

      Life expectancy at birth: total population: 68.14 years

      male: 62.06 years

      female: 74.52 years (2001 est.)

      Total fertility rate: 1.28 children born/woman (2001 est.)

      HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.28% (1999 est.)

      HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 14,000 (1999 est.)

      HIV/AIDS - deaths: 400 (1999 est.)

      Nationality: noun: Belarusian(s)

      adjective: Belarusian

      Ethnic groups: Byelorussian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish, Ukrainian, and other 7.4%

      Religions: Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic,

       Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.)

      Languages: Byelorussian, Russian, other

      Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write

      total population: 98%

      male: 99%

      female: 97% (1989 est.)

      Belarus Government

      Country name: 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

      Government 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 - when using a place name with the adjectival ending 'skaya' the word voblasts' should be added to the place name

      note: voblasti have the administrative center name following in parentheses

      Independence: 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

      National holiday: Independence Day, 3 July (1944); note - 3 July 1944 was the date Minsk was liberated from German troops, 25 August 1991 was the date of independence from the Soviet Union

      Constitution: 30 March 1994; revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November 1996

      Legal system: based on civil law system

      Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

      Executive branch: chief of state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994)

      head of government: Prime Minister Vladimir YERMOSHIN (since 18 February 2000); First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey KOBYAKOV (since 13 March 2000); Deputy Prime Ministers Mikhail DEMCHUK (since 14 July 2000), Mikhail KHORSTOV (since 27 November 2000), Valeriy KOKOREV (since 23 August 1994), Leonid KOZIK (since 4 February 1997), Gennadiy NOVITSKIY (since 11 February 1997), Aleksandr POPKOV (since 10 November 1998)

      cabinet: Council of Ministers

      elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; first election took place 23 June and 10 July 1994 (next to be held NA; according to the 1994 constitution, the next election should have been held in 1999, however LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via the November 1996 referendum); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president

      election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO elected president; percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 85%, Vyacheslav KEBICH 15%

      Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Natsionalnoye Sobranie consists of the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64 seats) and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata Pretsaviteley (110 seats)

      elections: last held October 2000 (next to be held NA)

      election results: party affiliation data unavailable; under present political conditions party designations are meaningless

      Judicial branch: Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president); Constitutional Court (half of the judges appointed by the president and half appointed by the Chamber of Representatives)

      Political parties and leaders: Agrarian Party or AP [Semyon

       SHARETSKY, chairman]; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB [Viktor

       CHIKIN, chairman]; Belarusian Ecological Green Party (merger of

       Belarusian Ecological Party and Green Party of Belarus) [leader NA];

       Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR

       [Anatoliy BARANKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Popular Front or BNF

       [Vintsuk VYACHORKA]; Belarusian Social-Democrat or SDBP [Nikolay

       STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party Hromada

       [Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Socialist Party

       [Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV]; Civic Accord Bloc (United Civic Party) or

       CAB [Stanislav BOGDANKEVICH, chairman]; Liberal Democratic Party or

       LDPB [Sergei GAYDUKEVICH, chairman]; Party of Communists Belarusian

       or PKB [Sergei KALYAKIN, chairman]; Republican Party of Labor and

       Justice or RPPS [Anatoliy NETYLKIN, chairman]; Social-Democrat Party

       of Popular Accord or PPA [Leanid SECHKA]; Women's Party Nadezhda

       [Valentina POLEVIKOVA, chairperson]

      Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

      International organization participation: CCC, CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD,

       ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Inmarsat,

       Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO,

       ITU, NAM, NSG, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU,

       WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO (observer)

      Diplomatic