Reforms toward a market economy have been inactive since 1994 in a government effort to maintain Soviet-style centralization. Most industries, including manufacturing and farming, are state owned and operated. In 1996 the private sector’s share of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) was around at 15 %, the lowest of all Eastern European countries.
High average annual rates of inflation between 1991 and 1996 severely impeded economic growth and drove up prices for food and services. In the same time annual output declined in almost all sectors of the economy. The 1999 GDP of Belarus was an around $26.8 billion. Trade and other services accounted for 46 % of GDP; industry, including mining and manufacturing, 40 %; and agriculture and forestry, 14 %.
around 5.4 million people contribute to the economy of Belarus. Of the labor force, 35 % are employed in industry; 21 % in agriculture and forestry; and 40 % in services such as trade and transportation. Unemployment is officially around at 2.3 %, but underemployment and irregular wage patterns are common.
Devastation during World War II nearly wiped out agriculture and industry in the Belorussian S.S.R., and the intensive postwar drive to restore the economy resulted in a large industrial area that depended on the other Soviet republics, particularly Russia, for energy and raw materials. The dissolution of the Soviet Union not only dramatically increased the cost of those raw materials but also reduced the orthodox market for Belarusian manufactured goods. As a result, production decreased in Belarus during the early 1990s. Moreover, the movement toward a market economy in Belarus was slower than that of other former Soviet republics, with only a small %age of state-run industry and agriculture privatized in the years following freedom. Largely in response to this economic upheaval, Belarus sought closer economic ties with Russia.
Belarus has seen little structural reform since 1995, when President LUKASHENKO launched the nation 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 enterprise. In addition to the burdens imposed by extremely high inflation, businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of central and local governments, e.g., arbitrary changes in regulations, numerous rigorous inspections, and retroactive application of new business regulations prohibiting practices that had been legal. Further economic problems are two consecutive bad harvests, 1998-99, and persistent trade deficits. Close relations with Russia, possibly leading to reunion, color the pattern of economic developments. For the time being, Belarus remains self-isolated from the West and its open-market economies.
In Belarus education is compulsory for 10 years, from ages 7 to 17. Primary school, generally starting at age 7 and lasting for 5 years, is followed by an additional 5 years of secondary school. These schools fall into three categories: general, teacher training, and vocational. Institutions of higher education include three universities, four polytechnical institutes, and a number of colleges specializing in agricultural or technical sciences.
In early 1992, some 61 % of eligible children attended preschool institutions in Belarus. During the 1993-94 school year, Belarus had 1.5 million children in 5,190 primary and secondary schools, 175,450 students in 33 institutions of higher education, and 129,000 students in 148 technical colleges. The literacy rate was 100 %, and the population was fairly well educated.
While the current literacy rate is high, only about 30 % of the population was literate in 1919. The Soviet regime emphasized compulsory education and claimed to have eliminated illiteracy by the 1950s. At the same time, after the 1920s there was little provision for education in the Belarusian language. In the post-World War II years, and particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, the culture of the republic was thoroughly Russified through government policies that emphasized the Russian language. Schools that taught in the Belarusian language were closed, primarily in rural areas. The process of Russification was reversed somewhat between 1984 and 1990, when Mikhail Gorbachev was leader of the USSR, and in the early 1990s.
Government: Democracy, with president and unicameral legislature, Supreme Soviet, both popularly elected. Government composed of president and Cabinet of Ministers. Procuracy headed by prosecutor general. New constitution adopted March 28, 1994; went into effect March 30, 1994.
Politics: Political parties and movements generally quite small. They include Belarusian Popular Front, Party of Communists of Belarus, Communist Party of Belarus, United Democratic Party of Belarus, Belarusian Social-Democratic Assembly (Hramada), Belarusian Peasant Party, Belarusian Christian-Democratic Union, Slavic Council "Belaya Rus'", and a number of other parties.
Foreign Relations: Recognized by more than 100 countries. Nearly seventy had some level of diplomatic relations. First recognized by Romania. Belarusian diplomatic presence abroad limited. Relations with Russia overshadow domestic and foreign policy. Relations with Ukraine weak. Relations with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia friendly.
Since the late century, national activists have based their attempts to create an independent Belarusian state based on the Belorussian language, which had been kept alive over the centuries mainly by peasants. The stage was set for the emergence of a national consciousness by the industrialization and urbanization of the nineteenth century and by the consequent publication of literature in the Belorussian language, which was often suppressed by Russian, and later Polish, authorities. It is ironic, then, that the first long-lived Belorussian state entity, the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Belorussian SSR), was created by outside forces--the Bolshevik government in Moscow. And it was those same forces, the communists, whose downfall in 1991 precipitated the existence of an independent Belarus, which has been torn between its desire for freedom and a longing for integration with newly independent Russia.
The population of the Belorussian SSR was jolted into national awareness in the late 1980s with the occurrence of one disaster and the find of another. The explosion at the Chornobyl' nuclear power plant in Ukraine not only entailed the physically damaging radiation carried by the winds but also came to represent the toll taken on the nation's sense of its ethnic and cultural identity by years of Russification.
Belarus's other disaster was the find in 1988 of mass graves containing victims of Joseph V. Stalin's atrocities. Although the revelation of these graves angered a broad spectrum of Belarusians, it actually energized only a comparatively small group of activists to try to overcome the nation's political apathy. Nationalists saw Stalin's actions as clear proof of Moscow's attempts to eliminate the Belorussian nation and wanted to make sure that such barbarity could not occur again. For them, a strong, independent Belarus was the first step in this direction.
Belarus, independent republic in eastern Europe, bordered on the north-west by Lithuania and Latvia, on the east by Russia, on the south by Ukraine, and on the west by Poland. Formerly the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), it is also known as Belorussia and White Russia. The republic covers an area of about 207,600 sq km. Minsk is the capital and largest city.
Official Name- Republic of Belarus
Capital City- Minsk
Languages- Belorussian
Official Currency- Belarussian Rouble
Religions- Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish
Population- 10,390,000
Land Area- 207,600 sq km (80,154 sq miles)
N/A
Belarusian was designated the official state language. In 1995, after a national vote on the subject, Russian also was elevated to a state language. Belarusian and Russian, along with Ukrainian, form the eastern branch of the Slavic languages of the Indo-European language family. More than 90 % of the population has native fluency in Russian, which was promoted by the state during the Soviet time. Belarusian is commonly spoken in rural areas, but in urban centers it is rarely heard.
Legal system: based on civil law system
vote: 18 years of age; universal
administrator branch: chief of state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO
Head of government: Prime Minister Vladimir YERMOSHIN (since 18 February 2000); First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey KOBYAKOV (since 13 March 2000); Deputy Prime Ministers Mikhail DEMCHUK (since 14 July 2000), Mikhail KHORSTOV (since 27 November 2000), Valeriy KOKOREV (since 23 August 1994), Leonid KOZIK (since 4 February 1997), Gennadiy NOVITSKIY (since 11 February 1997), Aleksandr POPKOV (since 10 November 1998)
Cabinet: Council of Ministers
Elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; first election took place 23 June and 10 July 1994; according to the 1994 constitution, the next election should have been held in 1999, however LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via a November 1996 vote; new election held 9 September 2001; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president
The population remains deeply determined by the Soviet time, retaining its heroes and legends. Belarusians generally revere the past, and former Soviet government leaders tend to dominate society, living in superior apartments and using personal chauffeurs. There also is a small new business-oriented elite with similar privileges. Movements for civil rights and women’s liberation have barely penetrated the social fabric.
Belarusians are fond of sports and excel in gymnastics and rowing. Soccer, basketball, and ice hockey are also popular. Belarus maintains cultural facilities in Minsk and other cities. Such amenities are not available in rural areas, where social occasions tend to be family-centered. The people of Belarus generally hold close family contacts.
International organization Member
CCC, CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Inmarsat, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NAM, NSG, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO
In July 1994, an around 10,405,000 people lived in Belarus, with additional populations of ethnic Belarusians living in Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Ethnic Belarusians in the West living primarily in Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, the United States, Canada, and Argentina numbered more than 1 million.
population of Belarus was 10,152,000; a 2001 estimate was 10,350,000, giving the nation a population density of 50 persons per sq km. The most famous demographic trend since the 1950s has been the steady migration of the population from the villages to urban centers, and the correspondent aging of the population remaining in the rural areas. In 1959 urban residents accounted for 31 % of the population; in 1979 they accounted for 55 %; and in 1999 they accounted for about 74 %. The most populated cities are Minsk, the capital and largest city; Homyel’; Mahilyow; Vitebsk; Hrodna; and Brest.
Agrarian Party or AP [Semyon SHARETSKY, chairman]; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB [Viktor CHIKIN, chairman]; Belarusian Ecological Green Party (merger of Belarusian Ecological Party and Green Party of Belarus) [leader NA]; Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR [Anatoliy BARANKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Popular Front or BNF [Vintsuk VYACHORKA]; Belarusian Social-Democrat or SDBP [Nikolay STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party Hromada [Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Socialist Party [Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV]; Civic Accord Bloc (United Civic Party) or CAB [Stanislav BOGDANKEVICH, chairman]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDPB [Sergei GAYDUKEVICH, chairman]; Party of Communists Belarusian or PKB [Sergei KALYAKIN, chairman]; Republican Party of Labor and Justice or RPPS [Anatoliy NETYLKIN, chairman]; Social-Democrat Party of Popular Accord or PPA [Leanid SECHKA]; Women's Party Nadezhda [Valentina POLEVIKOVA, chairperson]
6 voblastsi (singular - voblasts') and one municipality* (harady, singular - horad); Brestskaya (Brest), Homyel'skaya (Homyel'), Horad Minsk*, Hrodzyenskaya (Hrodna), Mahilyowskaya (Mahilyow), Minskaya, Vitsyebskaya (Vitsyebsk).
