Belarus

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National Name: Respublika Byelarus'

Languages: Belorussian (White Russian), Russian, other

Ethnicity/race: Belorussian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish 3.9%, Ukrainian 2.4%, other 1.1% (1999)

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

National Holiday: Independence Day, July 3

Literacy rate: 99.6% (2011 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2011 est.): $141 billion; per capita $14,900. Real growth rate: –5.3%. Inflation: 54.2%. Unemployment: 1% (2011 est.) officially registered unemployed; large number of underemployed workers. Arable land: 26.77%. Agriculture: grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk. Labor force: 5 million (2011); agriculture 14%, industry 34.7%, services 51.3% (2003 est.). Industries: metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, televisions, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators. Natural resources: forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay. Exports: $40 billion f.o.b. (2011 est.): machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals, textiles, foodstuffs. Imports: $42 billion f.o.b. (2011 est.): mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals. Major trading partners: Russia, UK, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Ukraine (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 4,139,000 (2011); mobile cellular: 10,333,000 (2011). Radio broadcast stations: AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998). Television broadcast stations: 47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995). Internet hosts: 302,560 (2011). Internet users: 2.643 million (2011).

Transportation: Railways: total: 5,537 km (2011). Highways: total: 94,797 km; (2011). Waterways: 2,500 km (use limited by location on perimeter of country and by shallowness) (2003). Ports and harbors: Mazyr. Airports: 67 (2011).

Transportation: Railways: total: 5,512 km (2004). Highways: total: 79,990 km; paved: 69,351 km; unpaved: 10,639 km (2004). Waterways: 2,500 km (use limited by location on perimeter of country and by shallowness) (2003). Ports and harbors: Mazyr. Airports: 101 (2005).

International disputes: 1997 boundary treaty with Ukraine remains unratified over unresolved financial claims, preventing demarcation and diminishing border security; the whole boundary with Latvia and more than half the boundary with Lithuania remains undemarcated; discussions toward economic and political union with Russia proceed slowly

Major sources and definitions