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Compare Belarus (2001) - South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2007)
Compare Belarus (2001) z South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2007)
| Belarus (2001) | South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2007) | |
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| 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 |
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| 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.) |
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| Agriculture - products | grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk | - |
| Airports | 136 (2000 est.) | - |
| 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.) |
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| 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.) |
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| Area | total:
207,600 sq km land: 207,600 sq km water: 0 sq km |
total: 3,903 sq km
land: 3,903 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Shag Rocks, Black Rock, Clerke Rocks, South Georgia Island, Bird Island, and the South Sandwich Islands, which consist of 11 islands |
| Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Kansas | slightly larger than Rhode Island |
| 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. | The islands, which have large bird and seal populations, lie approximately 1,000 km east of the Falkland Islands and have been under British administration since 1908 - except for a brief period in 1982 when Argentina occupied them. Grytviken, on South Georgia, was a 19th and early 20th century whaling station. Famed explorer Ernest SHACKLETON stopped there in 1914 en route to his ill-fated attempt to cross Antarctica on foot. He returned some 20 months later with a few companions in a small boat and arranged a successful rescue for the rest of his crew, stranded off the Antarctic Peninsula. He died in 1922 on a subsequent expedition and is buried in Grytviken. Today, the station houses scientists from the British Antarctic Survey. Recognizing the importance of preserving the marine stocks in adjacent waters, the UK, in 1993, extended the exclusive fishing zone from 12 nm to 200 nm around each island. |
| Birth rate | 9.57 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | - |
| Budget | revenues:
$4 billion expenditures: $4.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $180 million (1997 est.) |
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| Capital | Minsk | - |
| Climate | cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime | variable, with mostly westerly winds throughout the year interspersed with periods of calm; nearly all precipitation falls as snow |
| Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | NA 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 | - |
| 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: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
conventional short form: none abbreviation: SGSSI |
| Currency | Belarusian ruble (BYB/BYR) | - |
| Death rate | 13.97 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | - |
| Debt - external | $1 billion (2000 est.) | - |
| Dependency status | - | overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina; administered from the Falkland Islands by a commissioner, who is concurrently governor of the Falkland Islands, representing Queen ELIZABETH II |
| 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 |
none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina) |
| 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 |
none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina) |
| Disputes - international | none | Argentina, which claims the islands in its constitution and briefly occupied them by force in 1982, agreed in 1995 to no longer seek settlement by force |
| 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. | Some fishing takes place in adjacent waters. There is a potential source of income from harvesting finfish and krill. The islands receive income from postage stamps produced in the UK, sale of fishing licenses, and harbor and landing fees from tourist vessels. Tourism from specialized cruise ships is increasing rapidly. |
| Electricity - consumption | 27.647 billion kWh (1999) | - |
| Electricity - exports | 2.62 billion kWh (1999) | - |
| Electricity - imports | 7.1 billion kWh (1999) | - |
| Electricity - production | 24.911 billion kWh (1999) | - |
| Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
99.9% hydro: 0.1% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1999) |
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| Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Nyoman River 90 m highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m |
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Paget (South Georgia) 2,934 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 | NA |
| 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 |
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| Ethnic groups | Byelorussian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish, Ukrainian, and other 7.4% | - |
| 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 | - |
| 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% |
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| Exports | $7.4 billion (f.o.b., 2000) | - |
| Exports - commodities | machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals, textiles, foodstuffs | - |
| Exports - partners | Russia 66%, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Lithuania (1998) | - |
| Fiscal 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 | blue, with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands coat of arms centered on the outer half of the flag; the coat of arms features a shield with a golden lion centered; the shield is supported by a fur seal on the left and a penguin on the right; a reindeer appears above the shield, and below it on a scroll is the motto LEO TERRAM PROPRIAM PROTEGAT (Let the Lion Protect its Own Land) |
| GDP | purchasing power parity - $78.8 billion (2000 est.) | - |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
13% industry: 46% services: 41% (1999 est.) |
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| GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $7,500 (2000 est.) | - |
| GDP - real growth rate | 4% (2000 est.) | - |
| Geographic coordinates | 53 00 N, 28 00 E | 54 30 S, 37 00 W |
| Geography - note | landlocked | the north coast of South Georgia has several large bays, which provide good anchorage; reindeer, introduced early in the 20th century, live on South Georgia |
| 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) |
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| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
4.9% highest 10%: 19.4% (1993) |
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| 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 | - |
| Imports | $8.3 billion (f.o.b., 2000) | - |
| Imports - commodities | mineral products, machinery and equipment, metals, chemicals, foodstuffs | - |
| Imports - partners | Russia 54%, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Lithuania (1998) | - |
| Independence | 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union) | - |
| Industrial production growth rate | 5% (2000 est.) | - |
| Industries | metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earth movers, motorcycles, television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators | - |
| Infant mortality rate | 14.38 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | - |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 200% (2000 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) | - |
| Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 4 (2000) | - |
| Irrigated land | 1,000 sq km (1993 est.) | 0 sq km |
| 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) | - |
| Labor force | 4.8 million (2000) | - |
| Labor force - by occupation | industry and construction NA%, agriculture and forestry NA%, services NA% | - |
| Land boundaries | total:
3,098 km border countries: Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 605 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km |
0 km |
| Land use | arable land:
29% permanent crops: 1% permanent pastures: 15% forests and woodland: 34% other: 21% (1993 est.) |
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (largely covered by permanent ice and snow with some sparse vegetation consisting of grass, moss, and lichen) (2005) |
| Languages | Byelorussian, Russian, other | - |
| Legal system | based on civil law system | the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply; the senior magistrate from the Falkland Islands presides over the Magistrates Court |
| 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 |
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| Life expectancy at birth | total population:
68.14 years male: 62.06 years female: 74.52 years (2001 est.) |
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| Literacy | definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 98% male: 99% female: 97% (1989 est.) |
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| Location | Eastern Europe, east of Poland | Southern South America, islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, east of the tip of South America |
| Map references | Commonwealth of Independent States | Antarctic Region |
| Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm |
| Military - note | - | defense is the responsibility of the UK |
| Military branches | Army, Air Force, Air Defense Force, Interior Ministry Troops, Border Guards | - |
| Military expenditures - dollar figure | $156 million (FY98) | - |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.2% (FY98) | - |
| Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49:
2,729,956 (2001 est.) |
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| Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49:
2,138,743 (2001 est.) |
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| Military manpower - military age | 18 years of age | - |
| Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males:
86,396 (2001 est.) |
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| 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 | - |
| Nationality | noun:
Belarusian(s) adjective: Belarusian |
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| Natural hazards | NA | the South Sandwich Islands have prevailing weather conditions that generally make them difficult to approach by ship; they are also subject to active volcanism |
| Natural resources | forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas | fish |
| Net migration rate | 2.89 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | - |
| Pipelines | crude oil 1,470 km; refined products 1,100 km; natural gas 1,980 km (1992) | - |
| 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] | - |
| Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | - |
| Population | 10,350,194 (July 2001 est.) | no indigenous inhabitants
note: the small military garrison on South Georgia withdrew in March 2001 replaced by a permanent group of scientists of the British Antarctic Survey, which also has a biological station on Bird Island; the South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited |
| Population below poverty line | 22% (1995 est.) | - |
| Population growth rate | -0.15% (2001 est.) | - |
| Ports and harbors | Mazyr | - |
| Radio broadcast stations | AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998) | 0 (2003) |
| Radios | 3.02 million (1997) | - |
| Railways | total:
5,523 km broad gauge: 5,523 km 1.520-m gauge (875 km electrified) (2000) |
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| Religions | Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.) | - |
| 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.) |
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| Suffrage | 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: NA
domestic: NA international: coastal radiotelephone station at Grytviken |
| Telephones - main lines in use | 2.313 million (1997) | - |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 8,167 (1997) | - |
| Television broadcast stations | 47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995) | 0 (2003) |
| Terrain | generally flat and contains much marshland | most of the islands, rising steeply from the sea, are rugged and mountainous; South Georgia is largely barren and has steep, glacier-covered mountains; the South Sandwich Islands are of volcanic origin with some active volcanoes |
| Total fertility rate | 1.28 children born/woman (2001 est.) | - |
| Unemployment rate | 2.1% officially registered unemployed (December 2000); large number of underemployed workers | - |
| Waterways | NA km; note - Belarus has extensive and widely used canal and river systems | - |
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