General Information
Total land area of Belarus: 207,600 km²
Population (1 January, 2021): 9.350 mln
- Life expectancy at birth – 74.5 years
- Population living in cities – 78%
- The capital is Minsk – 2.010 million inhabitants
Languages spoken: Belarusian and Russian
National holiday: Independence Day, 3 July
Currency: Belarusian rouble – BYN (official exchange rate)
Economic indicators:
- GDP (2020) 147 bln BYN,
- GDP (2019) 134,7 bln BYN, per capita: 14,3 thous BYN
Commodity structure of export (2020):
- mineral products – 13.4%;
- products of the chemical or allied industries – 19.8%;
- machinery, equipment and mechanical appliances – 19.2%;
- food and agricultural raw materials – 19.7%;
- ferrous, non-ferrous metals and products thereof – 7.6%;
- others – 20.3%.
Commodity structure of import (2020):
- mineral products – 21.2%
- cars, equipment and vehicles – 26.5%
- black, nonferrous metals and products from them – 10.2%
- chemical industry production, rubber – 16.4%
- food and agricultural raw materials – 12.9%
- others – 12.8%
Leading trade partners (2020):
- Export – Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Germany
- Import – Russia, China, Germany, Ukraine, Poland
Industry
metallurgy
mechanical engineering (including tractors and agricultural, cars, machine-tool constructing and tool industry, instrument making, radio engineering, electro technical, electronic, optics-mechanical industry) and metalworking
- chemical and petrochemical industry
- light industry
- food industry
Area of farmland in Belarus (2019): 8 390 thoushectares
Agriculture specialization: grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beet, flax, meat and dairy industry.
Natural resources: wood, peat, potash and rock salts, small oil and natural gas fields, granite, dolomite, limestone, clay, sand.
Number of people in employment (2020): 4.31 mln
Distribution of employed population across key economic sectors (2020):
- Industry – 23.5%
- Retail; repairs of automobiles, household goods, and personal-use items – 14.4%
- Education – 10.5%
- Agriculture, hunting, forestry industry – 8.7%
- Transportation and communication – 6.7%
- Civil engineering – 6.4%
- Information and communication – 3.1%
- Other – 26.7%
Unemployment rate (2020): 7.2%
Communications:
- Number of mobile communication subscribers – 11.67 mln (April 1, 2021).
- Penetration of LTE-powered mobile communication services – 92%. At present, the services are available in Minsk and all the regional capitals as well as in major district capitals across the country.
- Number of fixed telephony subscribers – 47.5 phones per 100 residents.
- Number of Internet service subscribers and users – over 12 mln, including over 3.2 mln of fixed broadband Internet access subscribers.
- International bandwidth – 1,551Gbps (2020).
Belarus’s position in the international ratings related to communications:
- Global ICT Development Index of the International Telecommunication Union According to the International Telecommunication Union (2017): 32 out of 176 countries
- UN E-Government Development Index (2018): 38 out of 193 countries
- Integrated Index for Postal Development (2020): 20 out of 170 countries
- UN e-Government Survey (2020): 40 out of 193 countries.
Sources: Official Website of the Republic of Belarus; National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus; World Bank
Additional information:
https://president.gov.by/en/belarus/numbers
https://vetliva.com/belarus/about-country/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus
Last update: 21.06.2021