Belarus
Republic of BelarusRespublika Belarus
republicIndependence 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
Belarus as the 1993 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 78 fields, one of 34 editions from 1992 to 2025.
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Geography
Eastern Europe, between Poland and Russia
14 fieldsLand useshare of 207,600 km2
Map references
Asia, Commonwealth of Independent States - European States, Europe, Standard Time Zones of the World
Environment
southern part of Belarus highly contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl'
People
14 fieldsPer 1,000 population(1993 est.)
Male · female(1993 est.)
Government
Republic
20 fieldsNames
- conventional long form:
- Republic of Belarus
- conventional short form:
- Belarus
- local long form:
- Respublika Belarus
- local short form:
- none
- former:
- Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist Republic
Administrative divisions
6 oblasts (voblastsi, singular - voblasts') and one municipality* (harady,, singular - horad); note: each voblasts' has the same name as its administrative center
Political parties and leaders
- Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), Zenon PAZNYAK, chairman;
- United Democratic Party of Belarus (UDPB), Aleksandr DOBROVOLSKIY, chairman;
- Social Democratic Party of Belarus (SDBP), Mikhail TKACHEV, chairman;
- Belarus Workers Union, Mikhail SOBOL, Chairman;
- Belarus Peasants Party;
- Party of People's Unity, Gennadiy KARPENKO;
- Communist Party of Belarus
Elections
- Supreme Soviet:
- last held 4 April 1990 (next to be held NA);
- results - Communists 87%;
- seats - (360 total) number of seats by party NA;
- note - 50 seats are for public bodies;
- the Communist Party obtained an overwhelming majority
Executive branch
- chairman of the Supreme Soviet, chairman of the Council of Ministers;
- note - Belarus has approved a directly elected presidency but so far no elections have been scheduled
Leaders
- Chief of State:
- Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Stanislav S. SHUSHKEVICH (since 18 September 1991)
- Head of Government:
- Prime Minister Vyacheslav F. KEBICH (since NA April 1990), First Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail MYASNIKOVICH (since NA 1991)
Member of
CBSS (observer), CIS, CSCE, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ILO, IMF, INMARSAT, IOC, ITU, NACC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO
Diplomatic representation in US
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Designate Sergey Nikolayevich MARTYNOV
- chancery:
- 1511 K Street NW, Suite 619, Washington, DC 20036
- telephone:
- (202) 638-2954
US diplomatic representation
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador David H. SWARTZ
- embassy:
- Starovilenskaya #46, Minsk
- mailing address:
- APO AE 09862 telephone:
- 7-0172-34-65-37
Economy
19 fieldsOverview
In many ways Belarus resembles the three Baltic states, for example, in its industrial competence, its higher-than-average standard of living, and its critical dependence on the other former Soviet states for fuels and raw materials. Belarus ranks fourth in gross output among the former Soviet republics, having produced 4% of the total GDP and employing 4% of the labor force in the old USSR. Once a mainly agricultural area, it now supplies important producer and consumer goods - sometimes as the sole producer - to the other states.
Belarus had a significant share of the machine-building capacity of the former USSR. It is especially noted for production of tractors, large trucks, machine tools, and automation equipment. The soil in Belarus is not as fertile as the black earth of Ukraine, but by emphasizing favorable crops and livestock (especially pigs and chickens), Belarus has become a net exporter to the other former republics of meat, milk, eggs, flour, and potatoes.
Belarus produces only small amounts of oil and gas and receives most of its fuel from Russia through the Druzhba oil pipeline and the Northern Lights gas pipeline. These pipelines transit Belarus en route to Eastern Europe. Belarus produces petrochemicals, plastics, synthetic fibers (nearly 30% of former Soviet output), and fertilizer (20% of former Soviet output). Raw material resources are limited to potash and peat deposits.
The peat (more than one-third of the total for the former Soviet Union) is used in domestic heating, as boiler fuel for electric power stations, and in the production of chemicals. The potash supports fertilizer production. In 1992 GDP fell an estimated 13%, largely because the country is highly dependent on the ailing Russian economy for raw materials and parts.
Exports
$1.1 billion to outside of the successor states of the former USSR (f.o.b., 1992)
- commodities:
- machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs
- partners:
- NA
Imports
$751 million from outside the successor states of the former USSR (c.i.f., 1992)
- commodities:
- machinery, chemicals, textiles
- partners:
- NA
Industries
employ about 27% of labor force and produce a wide variety of products essential to the other states; products include (in percent share of total
- output of former Soviet Union):
- tractors (12%);
- metal-cutting machine tools (11%);
- off-highway dump trucks up to 110-metric-ton load capacity (100%);
- wheel-type earthmovers for construction and mining (100%);
- eight- wheel-drive, high-flotation trucks with cargo capacity of 25 metric tons for use in tundra and roadless areas (100%);
- equipment for animal husbandry and livestock feeding (25%);
- motorcycles (21.3%);
- television sets (11%);
- chemical fibers (28%);
- fertilizer (18%);
- linen fabric (11%);
- wool fabric (7%);
- radios;
- refrigerators;
- and other consumer goods
Agriculture
- accounts for almost 25% of GDP and 5.7% of total agricultural output of former Soviet Union;
- employs 20% of the labor force;
- in 1988 produced the
- following (in percent of total Soviet production):
- grain (3.6%), potatoes (12.2%), vegetables (3.0%), meat (6.0%), milk (7.0%); net exporter of meat, milk, eggs, flour, potatoes
Illicit drugs
- illicit producer of opium and cannabis;
- mostly for the domestic market;
- transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe
Currency
1 rubel (abbreviation NA) = 10 Russian rubles note: the rubel circulates with the Russian ruble; certain purchase are made only with rubels; government has established a different, and varying, exchange rate for trade between Belarus and Russia
Communications
8 fieldsNetworkskm · (1990)
Airports
- total:
- 124
- useable:
- 55
- with permanent-surface runways:
- 31
- with runways over 3,659 m:
- 1
- with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
- 28
- with runways 1,220-2,439 m:
- 20
Telecommunications
- construction of NMT-450 analog cellular network proceeding in Minsk, in addition to installation of some 300 km of fiber optic cable in the city network;
- telephone network has 1.7 million lines, 15% of which are switched automatically;
- Minsk has 450,000 lines;
- telephone density is approximately 17 per 100 persons;
- as of 1 December 1991, 721,000 applications from households for telephones were still unsatisfied;
- international connections to other former Soviet republics are by landline or microwave and to other countries by leased connection through the Moscow international gateway switch;
- Belarus has not constructed ground stations for international telecommunications via satellite to date
Defense Forces
Army, Air Forces, Air Defense Forces, Security Forces (internal and border | troops)
3 fieldsManpower availability
- males age 15-49 2,491,039;
- fit for military service 1,964,577;
- reach military age (18) annually 71,875 (1993 est.)
Cite this entry
Central Intelligence Agency. “Belarus.” The World Factbook 1993. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/belarus/1993.