Belarus

mean elevation:

160 m

elevation extremes:

90 m lowest point: Nyoman River; 346 highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara

party to:

Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

noun:

Belarusian(s)

adjective:

Belarusian

0-14 years:

15.91% (male 779,577 /female 736,481)

15-24 years:

9.96% (male 488,240 /female 460,673)

25-54 years:

44.49% (male 2,089,202 /female 2,149,486)

55-64 years:

14.42% (male 607,368 /female 766,238)

65 years and over:

15.22% (male 467,299 /female 982,979) (2018 est.)

total dependency ratio:

43.8 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio:

23.2 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio:

20.6 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio:

4.9 (2015 est.)

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

0-14 years:

1.06 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

15-24 years:

1.06 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

25-54 years:

0.97 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

55-64 years:

0.79 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

65 years and over:

0.46 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

total population:

0.87 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

name:

Minsk

geographic coordinates:

53 54 N, 27 34 E

time difference:

UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

• 6 provinces (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

history:

several previous; latest drafted between late 1991 and early 1994, signed 15 March 1994 (2016)

amendments:

• proposed by the president of the republic through petition to the National Assembly or by petition of least 150,000 eligible voters;
• approval required by at least two-thirds majority vote in both chambers or by simple majority of votes cast in a referendum (2016)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Belarus

dual citizenship recognized:

no

residency requirement for naturalization:

7 years

highest courts:

• Supreme Court (consists of the chairman and deputy chairman and organized into several specialized panels, including economic and military; number of judges set by the president of the republic and the court chairman);
• Constitutional Court (consists of 12 judges including a chairman and deputy chairman)

judge selection and term of office:

• Supreme Court judges appointed by the president with the consent of the Council of the Republic;
• judges initially appointed for 5 years and evaluated for life appointment;
• Constitutional Court judges - 6 appointed by the president and 6 elected by the Council of the Republic;
• the presiding judge directly elected by the president and approved by the Council of the Republic;
• judges can serve for 11 years with an age limit of 70

subordinate courts:

• oblast courts;
• Minsk City Court;
• town courts;
• Minsk city and oblast economic courts

chief of state:

President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994)

head of government:

• Prime Minister Sergey RUMAS (since 18 August 2018);
• First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr TURCHIN (since 18 August 2018);
• Deputy Prime Ministers Igor LYASHENKO, Vladimir KUKHAREV, Igor PETRISHENKO (since 18 August 2018), Mikhail RUSYY (since 2012)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers appointed by the president

elections/appointments:

• president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (no term limits);
• first election took place on 23 June and 10 July 1994;
• according to the 1994 constitution, the next election should have been held in 1999;
• however, Aleksandr LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via a November 1996 referendum;
• subsequent election held on 9 September 2001;
• an October 2004 referendum ended presidential term limits and allowed the president to run and win in a third (19 March 2006), fourth (19 December 2010), and fifth election (11 October 2015);
• next election in 2020;
• prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and approved by the National Assembly

election results:

• Aleksandr LUKASHENKO reelected president;
• percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (independent) 83.5%, Tatstyana KARATKEVICH (Tell the Truth) 4.4%, Sergey GAYDUKEVICH (LDP) 3.3%, other 8.8%;
• note - election marred by electoral fraud

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant; recalled by Belarus in 2008); Charge d'Affaires Pavel SHIDLOVSKIY (since 23 April 2014)

chancery:

1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009

telephone:

[1] (202) 986-1606

FAX:

[1] (202) 986-1805

consulate(s) general:

New York

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant; left in 2008 upon insistence of Belarusian Government); Charge d'Affaires Jenifer MOORE(since August 2018)

embassy:

46 Starovilenskaya Street, Minsk 220002

mailing address:

Unit 7010 Box 100, DPO AE 09769

telephone:

[375] (17) 210-1283

FAX:

[375] (17) 234-7853

• red horizontal band (top) and green horizontal band one-half the width of the red band;
• a white vertical stripe on the hoist side bears Belarusian national ornamentation in red;
• the red band color recalls past struggles from oppression, the green band represents hope and the many forests of the country

agriculture:

9.7%

industry:

23.4%

services:

66.8% (2015 est.)

lowest 10%:

21.9% (2008)

highest 10%:

21.9% (2008)

general assessment:

• fibre network reaches two million establishments;
• trial 5G services during the first half of 2019;
• 10,000km of fibre cabling laid;
• August 2018 almost two million GPON connections (Gigabit Passive Optical Network, point-to-multi point acess mechanism);
• 5 year plan is on track;
• Belarus launches its first telecoms satellite;
• LTE use reaches 75% of mobile subscribers (2018)

domestic:

• fixed-line teledensity is improving although rural areas continue to be underserved, 47 per 100 fixed-line;
• mobile-cellular teledensity now approaches 120 telephones per 100 persons (2017)

international:

• country code - 375;
• Belarus is a member of the Trans-European Line (TEL), Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line, and has access to the Trans-Siberia Line (TSL);
• 3 fiber-optic segments provide connectivity to Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine;
• worldwide service is available to Belarus through this infrastructure;
• additional analog lines to Russia;
• Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik earth stations (2017)

• 7 state-controlled national TV channels;
• Polish and Russian TV broadcasts are available in some areas;
• state-run Belarusian Radio operates 5 national networks and an external service;
• Russian and Polish radio broadcasts are available (2017)

number of registered air carriers:

2 (2015)

inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 30 (2015)

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

1,489,035 (2015)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

1.807 million mt-km (2015)

total:

5,528 km (2014)

standard gauge:

25 km 1.435-m gauge (2014)

broad gauge:

5,503 km 1.520-m gauge (874 km electrified) (2014)

total:

86,392 km (2010)

paved:

74,651 km (2010)

unpaved:

11,741 km (2010)

total:

4 (2017)

by type:

other 4 (2017)

• 18-27 years of age for compulsory military or alternative service;
• conscript service obligation is 12-18 months, depending on academic qualifications, and 24-36 months for alternative service, depending on academic qualifications;
• 17 year olds are eligible to become cadets at military higher education institutes, where they are classified as military personnel (2016)

refugees (country of origin):

244,621 applicants for forms of legal stay other than asylum (Ukraine) (2017)

stateless persons:

6,007 (2017)

current situation:

• Belarus is a source, transit, and destination country for women, men, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor;
• more victims are exploited within Belarus than abroad;
• Belarusians exploited abroad are primarily trafficked to Germany, Poland, Russian, and Turkey but also other European countries, the Middle East, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Mexico;
• Moldovans, Russians, Ukrainians, and Vietnamese are exploited in Belarus;
• state-sponsored forced labor is a continuing problem;
• students are forced to do farm labor without pay and military conscripts are forced to perform unpaid non-military work;
• the government has retained a decree forbidding workers in state-owned wood processing factories from leaving their jobs without their employers’ permission

tier rating:

• Tier 3 – Belarus does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and was placed on Tier 3 after being on the Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years without making progress;
• government efforts to repeal state-sponsored forced labor policies and domestic trafficking were inadequate;
• no trafficking offenders were convicted in 2014, and the number of investigations progressively declined from 2005-14;
• efforts to protect trafficking victims remain insufficient, with no identification and referral mechanism in place;
• care facilities were not trafficking-specific and were poorly equipped, leading most victims to seek assistance from private shelters (2015)

• limited cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, mostly for the domestic market;
• transshipment point for illicit drugs to and via Russia, and to the Baltics and Western Europe;
• a small and lightly regulated financial center;
• anti-money-laundering legislation does not meet international standards and was weakened further when know-your-customer requirements were curtailed in 2008;
• few investigations or prosecutions of money-laundering activities