Belarus - Geography
Here, let us take a look at the Geography of Belarus. Landlocked; glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and for its 11,000 lakes. Mother's mean age at first birth is 26.8 years (2019 est.) (), whereas, the Maternal mortality ratio is 1 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
Geographical data of Belarus
| Location | Eastern Europe, east of Poland |
|---|---|
| Geographic coordinates | 53 00 N, 28 00 E |
| Map references | Europe |
| Tarrain | 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 |
| Natural Hazards | large tracts of marshy land |
| Irrigated Land | 303 sq km (2020) |
| Major rivers (by length in km) | Dnyapro (Dnieper) (shared with Russia [s] and Ukraine [m]) - 2,287 km note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth |
| Major aquifers | |
| Land Boundaries | 3,599 km |
| Border Countries | Latvia 161 km; Lithuania 640 km; Poland 375 km; Russia 1,312 km; Ukraine 1,111 km |
| Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) |
| Climate | cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime |
| Area | |
| Total Area | 207,600 sq km |
| Land Area | 202,900 sq km |
| Water Area | 4,700 sq km |
| comparative Area | slightly less than twice the size of Kentucky; slightly smaller than Kansas |
| Maritime Claims | |
| Elevations | |
| Highest point | Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m |
| Lowest point | Nyoman River 90 m |
| Mean elevation | 160 m |
| Land Use | |
| Agricultural land | 43.7% (2018 est.) |
| Agricultural land: arable land | arable land: 27.2% (2018 est.) |
| Agricultural land: permanent crops | permanent crops: 0.6% (2018 est.) |
| Agricultural land: permanent pasture | permanent pasture: 15.9% (2018 est.) |
| Forest | 42.7% (2018 est.) |
| Other | 13.6% (2018 est.) |
Population Distribution
A fairly even distribution throughout most of the country, with urban areas attracting larger and denser populations
People and Society
In Belarus, the different Ethnic groups are such that we have: Belarusian 83.7%, Russian 8.3%, Polish 3.1%, Ukrainian 1.7%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.9% (2009 est.)
| Population | |
|---|---|
| Pop growth rate | -0.42% (2024 est.) |
| Birth rate | 8.3 births/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
| Death rate | 13.3 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
| Health expenditure | 6.4% of GDP (2020) |
| Physicians Density | 4.54 physicians/1,000 population (2019) |
| Hospital bed Density | 10.8 beds/1,000 population (2014) |
| Total fertility rate | 1.45 children born/woman (2024 est.) |
| Gross reproduction rate | 0.7 (2024 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 52.6% (2019) |
| Est married women (ages 15-49) | 66.6% (2023 est.) |
| Literacy | age 15 and over can read and write |
| Education expenditures | 4.7% of GDP (2021 est.) |
| Net Migration rate | 0.8 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
| Nationality | Belarusian | Belarusian(s) |
| Languages | |
| Religions | Orthodox 48.3%, Catholic 7.1%, other 3.5%, non-believers 41.1% (2011 est.) |
| Age Structure | |
| 0-14 years | 16.1% (male 787,849/female 741,293) |
| 15-64 years | 66.1% (male 3,073,507/female 3,204,088) |
| 65 years and over | 17.8% (2024 est.) (male 572,483/female 1,122,231) |
| Dependency Ratios | |
| Total dependency ratio | 50.8 |
| Youth dependency ratio | 25.4 |
| Elderly dependency ratio | 25.4 |
| Potential support ratio | 3.9 (2021 est.) |
| Median Age | |
| Total | 42.1 years (2024 est.) |
| Male | 39.5 years |
| Female | 45 years |
| Urbanization | |
| Urban population | 80.7% of total population (2023) |
| Rate of urbanization | 0.28% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) |
| Major urban areas (Pop) | 2.057 million MINSK (capital) (2023). |
| Sex Ratio | |
| At birth | 1.06 male(s)/female |
| 0-14 years | 1.06 male(s)/female |
| 15-64 years | 0.96 male(s)/female |
| 65 years and over | 0.51 male(s)/female |
| Total population | 0.88 male(s)/female (2024 est.) |
| Infant Motality | |
| Total | 2.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2024 est.) |
| Male | 2.5 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Female | 1.7 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Life Expectancy at birth | |
| Total population | 74.7 years (2024 est.) |
| Male | 69.8 years |
| Female | 80 years |
| Drinking Water Sources | |
| Improved: urban | urban: 100% of population |
| Improved: rural | rural: 99.6% of population |
| Improved: total | total: 99.9% of population |
| Unimproved: urban | urban: 0% of population |
| Unimproved: rural | rural: 0.4% of population |
| Unimproved: total | total: 0.1% of population (2020 est.) |
| Sanitation facility acess | |
| Improved: urban | urban: 99.9% of population |
| Improved: rural | rural: 98.3% of population |
| Improved: total | total: 99.5% of population |
| Unimproved: urban | urban: 0.1% of population |
| Unimproved: rural | rural: 1.7% of population |
| Unimproved: total | total: 0.5% of population (2020 est.) |
| Alcohol consumption per capita | |
| Total | 10.57 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Beer | 2.26 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Wine | 0.98 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Spirits | 4.67 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Other alcohols | 2.66 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Tobacco use | |
| Total | 30.5% (2020 est.) |
| Male | 47.4% (2020 est.) |
| Female | 13.5% (2020 est.) |
| Child marriage | |
| Women married by age 15 | 0.1% |
| Women married by age 18 | 4.7% |
| Men married by age 18 | 1.6% (2019 est.) |
Demographic profile
All Important Facts about Belarus
Want to know more about Belarus? Check all different factbooks for Belarus below.
