Belarus

Official name: Republic of Belarus
Also known as: Belorussia, Byelarus, Byelorussia, Respublika Byelarus’, White Russia, Рэспубліка Беларусь (Belarusian), Республика Беларусь (Russian)

Flag of Belarus
Capital of Belarus: Minsk
Area of Belarus: 207,600 km² (80,155 mi²) (85th)
Population of Belarus: 9,056,696 (100th) - (2024 est.)
Location: Eastern Europe
Languages of Belarus: Russian (official) 71.4%, Belarusian (official) 26%, other 0.3% (includes small Poles- and Ukrainian-speaking minorities), unspecified 2.3% (2019 est.)
Religions of Belarus: Eastern Orthodoxy 83.3%, Catholicism (including Roman Catholic and Belarusian Greek Catholic) 6.7%, other Christian 1%, No religion 7.8%Other religions 0.2% - (2020 est.)
Ethnic groups of Belarus: Belarusians 84.9%, Russians 7.5%, Poles 3.1%, Ukrainians 1.7%, Jews 0.1%, Armenians 0.1%, Lipka Tatars 0.1%, Ruska Roma 0.1%, Lithuanians 0.1%, Azerbaijanis 0.1%, others 2.2% (2019 census).
Currency: Belarusian ruble (BYN)
Time zone: UTC+3 (MSK)
Calling code: (+375)
Organizations: United Nations, Commonwealth of Independent States

Border countries (5): Latvia 161 km, Lithuania 640 km, Poland 418 km, Russia 1,312 km, Ukraine 1,111 km.
Coastline: 0 km (0 mi). Belarus is landlocked; the nearest body of water is the Baltic Sea, yet Lithuania and Latvia block access to the Baltic.

Administrative divisions of Belarus
Belarus Map

6 regions (voblastsi, singular - voblasts') and 1 municipality* (horad):
Brest, Homyel' (Gomel'), Horad Minsk* (Minsk City), Hrodna (Grodno), Mahilyow (Mogilev), Minsk, Vitsyebsk (Vitebsk).
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers; Russian spelling provided for reference when different from Belarusian.

Natural resources: timber, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay, potash, halite (salt).

Interesting facts:
Belarus is sometimes also known as 'White Russia'.
Belarus has a literacy rate of over 99%.
The unemployment rate in Belarus is very low, only 1.5%. Two-thirds of the total number of unemployed people are women.