##ciekawa_strona##
Compare Belarus (2001) - Germany (2002)
Compare Belarus (2001) z Germany (2002)
| Belarus (2001) | Germany (2002) | |
 |  | |
| Administrative divisions | 6 voblastsi (singular - voblasts') and one municipality* (harady, singular - horad); Brestskaya (Brest), Homyel'skaya (Homyel'), Horad Minsk*, Hrodzyenskaya (Hrodna), Mahilyowskaya (Mahilyow), Minskaya, Vitsyebskaya (Vitsyebsk); note - when using a place name with the adjectival ending 'skaya' the word voblasts' should be added to the place name
note: voblasti have the administrative center name following in parentheses |
16 states (Laender, singular - Land); Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thueringen |
| Age structure | 0-14 years:
17.93% (male 947,820; female 908,210) 15-64 years: 68.21% (male 3,428,920; female 3,631,290) 65 years and over: 13.86% (male 473,992; female 959,962) (2001 est.) |
0-14 years: 15.4% (male 6,568,699; female 6,227,148)
15-64 years: 67.6% (male 28,606,964; female 27,695,539) 65 years and over: 17% (male 5,546,140; female 8,607,361) (2002 est.) |
| Agriculture - products | grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk | potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbages; cattle, pigs, poultry |
| Airports | 136 (2000 est.) | 625 (2001) |
| Airports - with paved runways | total:
33 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 19 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 under 914 m: 11 (2000 est.) |
total: 328
over 3,047 m: 11 2,438 to 3,047 m: 54 1,524 to 2,437 m: 63 914 to 1,523 m: 69 under 914 m: 131 (2002) |
| Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
103 over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 10 1,524 to 2,437 m: 11 914 to 1,523 m: 14 under 914 m: 65 (2000 est.) |
total: 223
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 31 under 914 m: 189 (2002) |
| Area | total:
207,600 sq km land: 207,600 sq km water: 0 sq km |
total: 357,021 sq km
land: 349,223 sq km water: 7,798 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Kansas | slightly smaller than Montana |
| Background | 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. Belarus and Russia signed a treaty on a two-state union on 8 December 1999 envisioning greater political and economic integration but, to date, neither side has actively sought to implement the accord. | As Europe's largest economy and most populous nation, Germany remains a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed the country in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO, while the communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then Germany has expended considerable funds to bring eastern productivity and wages up to western standards. In January 2002, Germany and 11 other EU countries introduced a common European currency, the euro. |
| Birth rate | 9.57 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 8.99 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
| Budget | revenues:
$4 billion expenditures: $4.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $180 million (1997 est.) |
revenues: $802 billion
expenditures: $825 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.) |
| Capital | Minsk | Berlin |
| Climate | cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime | temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm foehn wind |
| Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | 2,389 km |
| Constitution | 30 March 1994; revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November 1996 | 23 May 1949, known as Basic Law; became constitution of the united German people 3 October 1990 |
| Country name | conventional long form:
Republic of Belarus conventional short form: Belarus local long form: Respublika Byelarus' local short form: none former: Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist Republic |
conventional long form: Federal Republic of Germany
conventional short form: Germany local long form: Bundesrepublik Deutschland local short form: Deutschland former: German Empire, German Republic, German Reich |
| Currency | Belarusian ruble (BYB/BYR) | euro (EUR); deutsche mark (DEM)
note: on 1 January 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by financial institutions of member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions within the member countries |
| Death rate | 13.97 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 10.36 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
| Debt - external | $1 billion (2000 est.) | $NA |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Michael KOZAK embassy: 46 Starovilenskaya St., Minsk 220002 mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [375] (17) 210-12-83 FAX: [375] (17) 234-7853 |
chief of mission: Ambassador Daniel R. COATS
embassy: Neustaedtische Kirchstrasse 4-5, 10117 Berlin; note - a new embassy will be built near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin mailing address: PSC 120, Box 1000, APO AE 09265 telephone: [49] (030) 8305-0 FAX: [49] (030) 238-6290 consulate(s) general: Duesseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich |
| Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Valeriy TSEPAKLO chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 986-1604 FAX: [1] (202) 986-1805 consulate(s) general: New York |
chief of mission: Ambassador Wolfgang Friedrich ISCHINGER
chancery: 4645 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: [1] (202) 298-8140 FAX: [1] (202) 298-4249 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco |
| Disputes - international | none | none |
| Economic aid - donor | - | ODA, $5.6 billion (1998) |
| Economic aid - recipient | $194.3 million (1995) | - |
| Economy - overview | Belarus has seen little structural reform since 1995, when President LUKASHENKO launched the country 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. | Germany's affluent and technologically powerful economy turned in a relatively weak performance throughout much of the 1990s. The modernization and integration of the eastern German economy continues to be a costly long-term problem, with annual transfers from west to east amounting to roughly $70 billion. Germany's ageing population, combined with high unemployment, has pushed social security outlays to a level exceeding contributions from workers. Structural rigidities in the labor market - including strict regulations on laying off workers and the setting of wages on a national basis - have made unemployment a chronic problem. Business and income tax cuts introduced in 2001 did not spare Germany from the impact of the downturn in international trade, and domestic demand faltered as unemployment began to rise. Growth in 2002 again fell short of 1%. Corporate restructuring and growing capital markets are setting the foundations that could allow Germany to meet the long-term challenges of European economic integration and globalization, particularly if labor market rigidities are addressed. In the short run, however, the fall in government revenues and the rise in expenditures has brought the deficit close to the EU's 3% debt limit. |
| Electricity - consumption | 27.647 billion kWh (1999) | 501.72 billion kWh (2000) |
| Electricity - exports | 2.62 billion kWh (1999) | 42.5 billion kWh (2000) |
| Electricity - imports | 7.1 billion kWh (1999) | 44.5 billion kWh (2000) |
| Electricity - production | 24.911 billion kWh (1999) | 537.33 billion kWh (2000) |
| Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
99.9% hydro: 0.1% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1999) |
fossil fuel: 63%
hydro: 4% nuclear: 30% other: 3% (2000) |
| Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Nyoman River 90 m highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m |
lowest point: Neuendorf bei Wilster -3.54 m
highest point: Zugspitze 2,963 m |
| Environment - current issues | soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl' in northern Ukraine | emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries contribute to air pollution; acid rain, resulting from sulfur dioxide emissions, is damaging forests; pollution in the Baltic Sea from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany; hazardous waste disposal; government established a mechanism for ending the use of nuclear power over the next 15 years; government working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in line with the EU's Flora, Fauna, and Habitat directive |
| Environment - international agreements | party to:
Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol |
| Ethnic groups | Byelorussian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish, Ukrainian, and other 7.4% | German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Serbo-Croatian, Italian, Russian, Greek, Polish, Spanish) |
| Exchange rates | Belarusian rubles per US dollar - 1,180 (yearend 2000), 730,000 (15 December 1999), 139,000 (25 January 1999), 46,080 (second quarter 1998), 25,964 (1997), 15,500 (yearend 1996); note - on 1 January 2000, the national currency was redenominated at one new ruble to 2,000 old rubles | euros per US dollar - 1.1324 (January 2002), 1.1175 (2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); deutsche marks per US dollar - 1.69 (January 1999), 1.7597 (1998), 1.7341 (1997) |
| Executive branch | chief of state:
President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994) 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 (next to be held NA; according to the 1994 constitution, the next election should have been held in 1999, however LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via the November 1996 referendum); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO elected president; percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 85%, Vyacheslav KEBICH 15% |
chief of state: President Johannes RAU (since 1 July 1999)
head of government: Chancellor Gerhard SCHROEDER (since 27 October 1998) cabinet: Cabinet or Bundesminister (Federal Ministers) appointed by the president on the recommendation of the chancellor elections: president elected for a five-year term by a Federal Convention including all members of the Federal Assembly and an equal number of delegates elected by the state parliaments; election last held 23 May 1999 (next to be held 23 May 2004); chancellor elected by an absolute majority of the Federal Assembly for a four-year term; election last held 22 September 2002 (next to be held NA September 2006) election results: Johannes RAU elected president; percent of Federal Convention vote - 57.6%; Gerhard SCHROEDER elected chancellor; percent of Federal Assembly vote NA% |
| Exports | $7.4 billion (f.o.b., 2000) | $608 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.) |
| Exports - commodities | machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals, textiles, foodstuffs | machinery, vehicles, chemicals, metals and manufactures, foodstuffs, textiles |
| Exports - partners | Russia 66%, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Lithuania (1998) | France 11.1%, US 10.6%, UK 8.4%, Netherlands 6.2%, Austria 5.1%; Belgium 4.9%, Spain 4.5%, Switzerland 4.3% (2001) (2001) |
| Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
| Flag description | red horizontal band (top) and green horizontal band one-half the width of the red band; a white vertical stripe on the hoist side bears the Belarusian national ornament in red | three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and gold |
| GDP | purchasing power parity - $78.8 billion (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $2.184 trillion (2002 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
13% industry: 46% services: 41% (1999 est.) |
agriculture: 1%
industry: 31% services: 68% (2002 est.) |
| GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $7,500 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $26,600 (2002 est.); (2002 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 4% (2000 est.) | 0.4% (2002 est.) |
| Geographic coordinates | 53 00 N, 28 00 E | 51 00 N, 9 00 E |
| Geography - note | landlocked | strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea |
| Heliports | - | 40 (2002) |
| Highways | total:
63,355 km paved: 60,567 km (these roads are said to be hard-surfaced, and include, in addition to conventionally paved roads, some that are surfaced with gravel or other coarse aggregate, making them trafficable in all weather) unpaved: 2,788 km (these roads are made of unstabilized earth and are difficult to negotiate in wet weather) (1998) |
total: 656,140 km
paved: 650,891 km (including 11,400 km of expressways) unpaved: 5,249 km (all-weather) (1998 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
4.9% highest 10%: 19.4% (1993) |
lowest 10%: 4%
highest 10%: 25% (1997) |
| Illicit drugs | limited cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, mostly for the domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to and via Russia, and to the Baltics and Western Europe | source of precursor chemicals for South American cocaine processors; transshipment point for and consumer of Southwest Asian heroin, Latin American cocaine, and European-produced synthetic drugs |
| Imports | $8.3 billion (f.o.b., 2000) | $487.3 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.) |
| Imports - commodities | mineral products, machinery and equipment, metals, chemicals, foodstuffs | machinery, vehicles, chemicals, foodstuffs, textiles, metals |
| Imports - partners | Russia 54%, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Lithuania (1998) | France 9.4%, Netherlands 8.4%, US 8.3%, UK 6.9%, Italy 6.5%, Belgium 5.2%, Japan 4.1%, Austria 3.8% (2001) |
| Independence | 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union) | 18 January 1871 (German Empire unification); divided into four zones of occupation (UK, US, USSR, and later, France) in 1945 following World War II; Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) proclaimed 23 May 1949 and included the former UK, US, and French zones; German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) proclaimed 7 October 1949 and included the former USSR zone; unification of West Germany and East Germany took place 3 October 1990; all four powers formally relinquished rights 15 March 1991 |
| Industrial production growth rate | 5% (2000 est.) | -2.1% (2002 est.) |
| Industries | metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earth movers, motorcycles, television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators | among the world's largest and most technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, food and beverages; shipbuilding; textiles |
| Infant mortality rate | 14.38 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | 4.65 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 200% (2000 est.) | 1.3% (2002 est.) |
| International organization participation | 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 (observer) | AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BDEAC, BIS, CBSS, CCC, CDB, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G- 8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MONUC, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOVIC, UNOMIG, UPU, WADB (nonregional), WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC |
| Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 4 (2000) | 200 (2001) |
| Irrigated land | 1,000 sq km (1993 est.) | 4,850 sq km (1998 est.) |
| Judicial branch | Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president); Constitutional Court (half of the judges appointed by the president and half appointed by the Chamber of Representatives) | Federal Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht (half the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat) |
| Labor force | 4.8 million (2000) | 41.9 million (2001) |
| Labor force - by occupation | industry and construction NA%, agriculture and forestry NA%, services NA% | industry 33%, agriculture 3%, services 64% (1999) |
| Land boundaries | total:
3,098 km border countries: Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 605 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km |
total: 3,621 km
border countries: Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czech Republic 646 km, Denmark 68 km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 138 km, Netherlands 577 km, Poland 456 km, Switzerland 334 km |
| Land use | arable land:
29% permanent crops: 1% permanent pastures: 15% forests and woodland: 34% other: 21% (1993 est.) |
arable land: 33.88%
permanent crops: 0.65% other: 65.47% (1998 est.) |
| Languages | Byelorussian, Russian, other | German |
| Legal system | based on civil law system | civil law system with indigenous concepts; judicial review of legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Legislative branch | bicameral Parliament or Natsionalnoye Sobranie consists of the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64 seats) and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata Pretsaviteley (110 seats)
elections: last held October 2000 (next to be held NA) election results: party affiliation data unavailable; under present political conditions party designations are meaningless |
bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Federal Assembly or Bundestag (603 seats; elected by popular vote under a system combining direct and proportional representation; a party must win 5% of the national vote or three direct mandates to gain representation; members serve four-year terms) and the Federal Council or Bundesrat (69 votes; state governments are directly represented by votes; each has 3 to 6 votes depending on population and are required to vote as a block)
elections: Federal Assembly - last held 22 September 2002 (next to be held NA September 2006); note - there are no elections for the Bundesrat; composition is determined by the composition of the state-level governments; the composition of the Bundesrat has the potential to change any time one of the 16 states holds an election election results: Federal Assembly - percent of vote by party - SPD 38.5%, CDU/CSU 38.5%, Greens 8.6%, FDP 7.4%, PDS 4%; seats by party - SPD 251, CDU/CSU 248, Greens 55, FDP 47, PDS 2; Federal Council - current composition - NA |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population:
68.14 years male: 62.06 years female: 74.52 years (2001 est.) |
total population: 77.78 years
male: 74.64 years female: 81.09 years (2002 est.) |
| Literacy | definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 98% male: 99% female: 97% (1989 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99% (1977 est.) male: NA% female: NA% |
| Location | Eastern Europe, east of Poland | Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark |
| Map references | Commonwealth of Independent States | Europe |
| Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM |
| Merchant marine | - | total: 388 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,758,942 GRT/7,132,525 DWT
ships by type: cargo 132, chemical tanker 10, container 219, liquefied gas 3, passenger 3, petroleum tanker 7, railcar carrier 2, refrigerated cargo 1, roll on/roll off 4, short-sea passenger 7 note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Chile 1, Finland 5, Iceland 1, Netherlands 3, Switzerland 1 (2002 est.) |
| Military branches | Army, Air Force, Air Defense Force, Interior Ministry Troops, Border Guards | Army, Navy (including naval air arm), Air Force, Medical Corps, Joint Support Service |
| Military expenditures - dollar figure | $156 million (FY98) | $38.8 billion (2002) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.2% (FY98) | 1.38% (2002) |
| Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49:
2,729,956 (2001 est.) |
males age 15-49: 20,854,329 (2002 est.) |
| Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49:
2,138,743 (2001 est.) |
males age 15-49: 17,734,977 (2002 est.) |
| Military manpower - military age | 18 years of age | 18 years of age (2002 est.) |
| Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males:
86,396 (2001 est.) |
males: 482,318 (2002 est.) |
| National holiday | Independence Day, 3 July (1944); note - 3 July 1944 was the date Minsk was liberated from German troops, 25 August 1991 was the date of independence from the Soviet Union | Unity Day, 3 October (1990) |
| Nationality | noun:
Belarusian(s) adjective: Belarusian |
noun: German(s)
adjective: German |
| Natural hazards | NA | flooding |
| Natural resources | forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas | iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel, arable land |
| Net migration rate | 2.89 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 3.99 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
| Pipelines | crude oil 1,470 km; refined products 1,100 km; natural gas 1,980 km (1992) | crude oil 2,240 km (2001) |
| Political parties and leaders | 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] | Alliance '90/Greens [Angelika BEER and Reinhard BUETIKOFER]; Christian Democratic Union or CDU [Angela MERKEL]; Christian Social Union or CSU [Edmund STOIBER, chairman]; Free Democratic Party or FDP [Guido WESTERWELLE, chairman]; the Greens [leader NA]; Party of Democratic Socialism or PDS [Gabriele ZIMMER]; Social Democratic Party or SPD [Gerhard SCHROEDER, chairman] |
| Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | employers' organizations; expellee, refugee, trade unions, and veterans groups |
| Population | 10,350,194 (July 2001 est.) | 83,251,851 (July 2002 est.) |
| Population below poverty line | 22% (1995 est.) | NA% |
| Population growth rate | -0.15% (2001 est.) | 0.26% (2002 est.) |
| Ports and harbors | Mazyr | Berlin, Bonn, Brake, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cologne, Dresden, Duisburg, Emden, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Luebeck, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Rostock, Stuttgart |
| Radio broadcast stations | AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998) | AM 51, FM 787, shortwave 4 (1998) |
| Radios | 3.02 million (1997) | 77.8 million (1997) |
| Railways | total:
5,523 km broad gauge: 5,523 km 1.520-m gauge (875 km electrified) (2000) |
total: 44,000 km (including at least 20,300 km electrified); most routes are double- or multiple-track
note: since privatization in 1994, Deutsche Bahn AG (DBAG) no longer publishes details of the track it owns; in addition to the DBAG system there are 102 privately owned railway companies which own approximately 3,000 to 4,000 km of track (2001 est.) |
| Religions | Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.) | Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3% |
| Sex ratio | at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.49 male(s)/female total population: 0.88 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.64 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
| Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
| Telephone system | general assessment:
the Ministry of Telecommunications controls all telecommunications through its carrier (a joint stock company) Beltelcom which is a monopoly domestic: local - Minsk has a digital metropolitan network and a cellular NMT-450 network; waiting lists for telephones are long; local service outside Minsk is neglected and poor; intercity - Belarus has a partly developed fiber-optic backbone system presently serving at least 13 major cities (1998); Belarus's fiber optics form synchronous digital hierarchy rings through other countries' systems; an inadequate analog system remains operational international: Belarus is a member of the Trans-European Line (TEL), Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line, and has access to the Trans-Siberia Line (TSL); three fiber-optic segments provide connectivity to Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine; worldwide service is available to Belarus through this infrastructure; additional analog lines to Russia; Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik earth stations |
general assessment: Germany has one of the world's most technologically advanced telecommunications systems; as a result of intensive capital expenditures since reunification, the formerly backward system of the eastern part of the country, dating back to World War II, has been modernized and integrated with that of the western part
domestic: Germany is served by an extensive system of automatic telephone exchanges connected by modern networks of fiber-optic cable, coaxial cable, microwave radio relay, and a domestic satellite system; cellular telephone service is widely available, expanding rapidly, and includes roaming service to many foreign countries international: Germany's international service is excellent worldwide, consisting of extensive land and undersea cable facilities as well as earth stations in the INMARSAT, INTELSAT, EUTELSAT, and INTERSPUTNIK satellite systems (2001) |
| Telephones - main lines in use | 2.313 million (1997) | 50.9 million (March 2001) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 8,167 (1997) | 55.3 million (June 2001) |
| Television broadcast stations | 47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995) | 373 (plus 8,042 repeaters) (1995) |
| Terrain | generally flat and contains much marshland | lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south |
| Total fertility rate | 1.28 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 1.39 children born/woman (2002 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | 2.1% officially registered unemployed (December 2000); large number of underemployed workers | 9.8% (2002 est.) |
| Waterways | NA km; note - Belarus has extensive and widely used canal and river systems | 7,500 km
note: major rivers include the Rhine and Elbe; Kiel Canal is an important connection between the Baltic Sea and North Sea (1999) |
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