Roman Golovchenko 

(2020 — present)

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