Belarus
The Country of the Week
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Minsk
- Population
- 9,460,972 (2025 est.)
- Area
- 207,600 sq km
- Government
- presidential republic in name, although in fact a dictatorship
- Religions
- Orthodox 48.3%, Catholic 7.1%, other 3.5%, non-believers 41.1% (2011 est.)
- Ethnic Groups
- Belarusian 83.7%, Russian 8.3%, Polish 3.1%, Ukrainian 1.7%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.9% (2009 est.)
- Currency
- Belarusian rubles (BYB/BYR)
- Life Expectancy
- 74.7 years (2024 est.)
- Internet Domain
- .by
- Climate
- cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime
- Terrain
- generally flat with much marshland
- Natural Resources
- timber, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay
- Major Exports
- fertilizers, rapeseed oil, wood, poultry, beef (2023)
Source: CIA World Factbook (public domain)
Overview
After seven decades as a constituent republic of the USSR, Belarus attained its independence in 1991. It has retained closer political and economic ties to Russia than any of the other former Soviet republics.