Capital of Belarus:
MinskArea 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)
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
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.