Belarus

Wealth and National Well-Being

Country Comparisons:
2010: see chart

World Factbook: "Belarus has seen little structural reform since 1995, when President LUKASHENKO launched the country on the path of "market socialism." In keeping with this policy, LUKASHENKO reimposed administrative controls over prices and currency exchange rates and expanded the state's right to intervene in the management of private enterprises."

Unemployment rate
2009: 1%

Belarus spends $85 per person on heath care (estimated in 2004). Its suicide rate for males is less than that of Russia but triple that of the U.S. and Sweden.

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
highest 10% of the population: 22%. Lowest 10%: 3.6%

Military expenditures as a percentage of GDP
2005: 1.4%

People

Living in an urban area
2010: 75%
2008: 73%

Migration
2011: More arriving than leaving, a net gain of 0.38 persons per 1,000 population.

Ethnicities
1999 census: Belarusian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish 3.9%, Ukrainian 2.4%, other 1.1%

Belorussians are ethnically different from the Russians. The country's official language is Belorusian -- an Eastern Slavic language with Ruthenian roots.

Religion
1997 estimate: Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20%

Geography

Between Poland and Russia.

Government

The head of state is the president, elected by popular vote to a five-year term. The head of government is the prime minister. Belarus is one of the former republics of the Soviet Union. The legislature is bicameral: the Council of the Republic is one house, with 64 seats, with eight members appointed by the president and 56 elected by regional councils. The second house the Chamber of Representatives, has 110 seats and its members are chosen by popular vote.

Belarus is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, former republics within the Soviet Union that today are closely associated with Russia economically, in defense and foreign policy.

Capital: Minsk.

Recent History

Recommended Website (not government sponsored) http://www.belarusguide.com/main/index.html.

Chernobyl, in the northern Ukraine, is about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the Belarus border. It is said that because of the winds on April 26, 1986, 70 percent of the radioactive dust from the Chernobyl nuclear mishap fell on Belarus. This fallout is still an issue in Belarus, as is soil pollution from pesticide use.

Independence from the Soviet Union: August 25, 1991.

Alexander Lukashenko begins his political career in 1993 opposed to corruption and favoring "communist principles" -- values he grew up with in the Soviet Union.

In 1994, Lukashenko runs as an independent against "the mafia" -- those he accuses of corruption. He wins a runoff election, sticking with the socialism of his youth by opposing privatization and market reforms.

October 20, 2004: President Alexander Lukashenko, had been limited to two terms in office. Through a constitutional referendum, held three days ago (the 17th) he overcome a limit to the number of terms he can serve as president. The results were reported 77 percent in his favor. He has been derided in the press of his neighboring former Soviet republics, including Russia. Lukashenko dismisses criticism from abroad, claiming to be the alternative in Belarus to instability. Yesterday some young people marched to the president's residence with banners that read "no to tyranny." They were dispersed by baton-wielding police.

July 7, 2011: Belarus puts itself among those states that do not tolerate peaceful protest. Police attack, beat and arrest "hundreds fo people" across Belarus who are protesting against President Lukashenko.

SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook