Key facts about Belarus

Belarus on the map of Europe

An introduction in facts and figures to this landlocked country in the north-east of Europe

Official Name

Republic of Belarus

President of Belarus

Aleksandr Lukashenko (1994 - present )

Prime Minister of Belarus

Total land area of Belarus

207,600 km²

• woodland - 44%
• agricultural lands - 38%
• surface waters, including wetlands - 6%
• other lands - 12%

The Republic of Belarus ranks:

• 84th in the world in terms of territory
• 98th in the world in terms of population. 

Nationality of Belarus

Population – 9.109,3 million (on 1 January 2025)

• Life expectancy at birth – 74.7 years
• Population living in cities – 78%
• The capital is Minsk – 1.996,7 million inhabitants

Regional centres of Belarus (on 1 January 2025):

• Brest Oblast – 1.299,9 million inhabitants          (Brest – 346,1 thousand) 
• Vitebsk Oblast  – 1.072,1 million inhabitants         (Vitebsk – 358,9 thousand)
• Gomel Oblast  – 1.328,0 million inhabitants          (Gomel – 501,2 thousand)
• Grodno Oblast – 984,9 thousand inhabitants          (Grodno – 363,7 thousand)
• Mogilev Oblast – 971,4 thousand inhabitants          (Mogilev – 352,9 thousand)
• Minsk Oblast – 1.456,4 million inhabitants

Ethnicity

Languages spoken in Belarus

Belarusian and Russian

National holidays in Belarus

Independence Day, 3 July

Currency of Belarus

Belarusian rouble (Br)

Economic indicators

• GDP (2024) Br246.6 billion; Br27,001 per capita
• GDP (2023) Br218.0 billion; Br23,748 per capita
• GDP (2022) Br193.7 billion; Br20,995 per capita
• GDP (2021) Br176.9 billion; Br19,014 per capita

Foreign trade

Foreign trade in goods and services (the balance of payments methodology, million U.S. dollars, 2024): 100,065

• Export: 49,386
• Import: 50,679
• Deficit: 1,293

Foreign trade in goods: 83,693

• Export: 39,496
• Import: 44,197
• Deficit: 4,701

Foreign trade in services: 16,371

• Export: 9,890
• Import: 6,482
• Surplus: 3,408  

Export: petrochemical, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, woodworking, light industry, dairy and meat products, furniture, glass, fiberglass, cement.

Import: energy resources (oil and natural gas), raw materials, materials and components (metals and metal products, raw materials for chemical production, machine parts), technological equipment.

Belarus’ major trading partners: Russia, the EAEU and the CIS countries. Belarusian manufacturers are building up their presence in the markets of Asia, Africa, America and Oceania.

Main Industries of Belarus

• metallurgy
• mechanical engineering
• chemical and petrochemical
• light industry
• food industry

Belarus ranked 56th out of 153 countries in the 2025 edition of the Competitive Industrial Performance Index (CIP) that is compiled by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Area of farmland in Belarus

8,036,300 hectares (as of late 2023)

Agriculture

Areas of speciality in agriculture: grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beet, flax, meat and dairy industry

Natural resources

• wood
• peat
• potash and rock salts
• small oil and natural gas fields
• granite
• dolomite
• limestone
• clay
• sand

Number of people in employment

4.12 million (2024)

Unemployment (2024): 3.0%; 150,400 (based on sample survey by ILO methodology).

Breakdown of employed population by type of economic activity (2024):

• production sector – 24.2%
• wholesale and retail trade; repairs of automobiles – 14.4%
• education – 10.4%
• agriculture, forestry, fishing industry – 8.1%
• transportation, storage, postal services and courier delivery  – 6.4%
• civil engineering – 5.8%
• information and communications – 3.0%
• others – 27.7%

Communications

Number of mobile communication subscribers – 11.7 million (2024).

Population covered by 2G and 3G network – 98%, by 4G LTE network – 99.0%.
Territory covered by 2G – 99.3%, by 3G – 98.6%, by 4G LTE – 93.0%.

Number of broadband internet users – over 11.4 million (2024).
International bandwidth – 3,760 Gbps (2024)

In 2024, Belarus ranked 77th in the UN E-Government Survey (the index features a total of 193 countries).

Transportation

Railways – 5,473.5km, including 1,369.5km of electric track (2024)
Highways – 104,000km, including paved roads 90,400 km (2024)
Tram lines (double-track) – 98.7km (2022)
Trolleybus lines (double-track) – 529.1km (2022)
Metro lines (double-track) – 58.3km (2022)
Main pipelines – 11,916.7km (2022)

print version

make home page

add to bookmarks