##ciekawa_strona##
Compare Germany (2001) - Belarus (2005)
Compare Germany (2001) z Belarus (2005)
| Germany (2001) | Belarus (2005) | |
 |  | |
| Administrative divisions | 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 | 6 provinces (voblastsi, singular - voblasts') and 1 municipality* (horad); Brest, Homyel', Horad Minsk*, Hrodna, Mahilyow, Minsk, Vitsyebsk
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers |
| Age structure | 0-14 years:
15.57% (male 6,635,328; female 6,289,994) 15-64 years: 67.82% (male 28,619,237; female 27,691,698) 65 years and over: 16.61% (male 5,336,664; female 8,456,615) (2001 est.) |
0-14 years: 16% (male 839,292/female 804,738)
15-64 years: 69.5% (male 3,481,432/female 3,672,991) 65 years and over: 14.6% (male 498,717/female 1,003,313) (2005 est.) |
| Agriculture - products | potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbages; cattle, pigs, poultry | grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk |
| Airports | 613 (2000 est.) | 133 (2004 est.) |
| Airports - with paved runways | total:
322 over 3,047 m: 13 2,438 to 3,047 m: 55 1,524 to 2,437 m: 67 914 to 1,523 m: 63 under 914 m: 124 (2000 est.) |
total: 50
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 22 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 21 (2004 est.) |
| Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
291 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 6 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 53 under 914 m: 225 (2000 est.) |
total: 83
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 11 under 914 m: 64 (2004 est.) |
| Area | total:
357,021 sq km land: 349,223 sq km water: 7,798 sq km |
total: 207,600 sq km
land: 207,600 sq km water: 0 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Montana | slightly smaller than Kansas |
| Background | As Western Europe's richest 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 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 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries formed a common European currency, the euro. | 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. Although Belarus agreed to a framework to carry out the accord, serious implementation has yet to take place. Since his election in July 1995 as the country's first president, Alexander LUKASHENKO has steadily consolidated his power through authoritarian means. Government restrictions on freedom of speech and the press, peaceful assembly, and religion continue. |
| Birth rate | 9.16 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 10.83 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
| Budget | revenues:
$996 billion expenditures: $1.036 trillion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999 est.) |
revenues: $3.326 billion
expenditures: $3.564 billion, including capital expenditures of $180 million (2004 est.) |
| Capital | Berlin | Minsk |
| Climate | temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm foehn wind | cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime |
| Coastline | 2,389 km | 0 km (landlocked) |
| Constitution | 23 May 1949, known as Basic Law; became constitution of the united German people 3 October 1990 | 15 March 1994; revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November 1996; revised again 17 October 2004 removing presidential term limits |
| Country name | 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 |
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 |
| Currency | deutsche mark (DEM); euro (EUR)
note: on 1 January 1999, the EU introduced the euro as a common currency that is now being used by financial institutions in Germany at a fixed rate of 1.95583 deutsche marks per euro and will replace the local currency for all transactions in 2002 |
- |
| Death rate | 10.42 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 14.15 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
| Debt - external | $NA | $600 million (2004 est.) |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador John C. KORNBLUM (was due to resign on 20 January 2001) embassy: Neustaedtische Kirchstrasse 4-5, 10117 Berlin mailing address: PSC 120, Box 1000, APO AE 09265 telephone: [49] (30) 238-5174 FAX: [49] (30) 238-6290 consulate(s) general: Duesseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich |
chief of mission: Ambassador George A. KROL
embassy: 46 Starovilenskaya St., Minsk 220002 mailing address: PSC 78, Box B Minsk, APO 09723 telephone: [375] (17) 210-12-83, 217-7347, 217-7348 FAX: [375] (17) 234-7853 |
| Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Juergen CHROBOG chancery: 4645 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: [1] (202) 298-8141 FAX: [1] (202) 298-4249 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle consulate(s): Wellington (America Samoa) |
chief of mission: Ambassador Mikhail KHVOSTOV
chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 986-1604 FAX: [1] (202) 986-1805 consulate(s) general: New York |
| Disputes - international | none | 1997 boundary treaty with Ukraine remains unratified over unresolved financial claims, preventing demarcation and diminishing border security; boundary with Latvia remains undemarcated but a third of the border with Lithuania was demarcated in 2004 |
| Economic aid - donor | ODA, $5.6 billion (1998) | - |
| Economic aid - recipient | - | $194.3 million (1995) |
| Economy - overview | Germany possesses the world's third most technologically powerful economy after the US and Japan, but structural market rigidities - including the substantial non-wage costs of hiring new workers - have made unemployment a long-term, not just a cyclical, problem. Germany's aging population, combined with high unemployment, has pushed social security outlays to a level exceeding contributions from workers. The modernization and integration of the eastern German economy remains a costly long-term problem, with annual transfers from western Germany amounting to roughly $70 billion. Growth picked up to 3% in 2000, largely due to recovering global demand; newly passed business and income tax cuts are expected to keep growth strong in 2001. Corporate restructuring and growing capital markets are transforming the German economy to meet the challenges of European economic integration and globalization in general. | Belarus's economy in 2003-04 posted 6.1% and 6.4% growth. Still, the economy continues to be hampered by high inflation, persistent trade deficits, and ongoing rocky relations with Russia, Belarus' largest trading partner and energy supplier. 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 enterprises. In addition, businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of central and local governments, e.g., arbitrary changes in regulations, numerous rigorous inspections, retroactive application of new business regulations, and arrests of "disruptive" businessmen and factory owners. A wide range of redistributive policies has helped those at the bottom of the ladder; the Gini coefficient is among the lowest in the world. For the time being, Belarus remains self-isolated from the West and its open-market economies. Growth has been strong in recent years, despite the roadblocks in a tough, centrally directed economy and the high, but decreasing, rate of inflation. Growth has been buoyed by increased Russian demand for generally noncompetitive Belarusian goods. |
| Electricity - consumption | 495.181 billion kWh (1999) | 34.3 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity - exports | 39.5 billion kWh (1999) | 800 million kWh (2004) |
| Electricity - imports | 40.5 billion kWh (1999) | 3.2 billion kWh (2003) |
| Electricity - production | 531.377 billion kWh (1999) | 30 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
63.29% hydro: 3.59% nuclear: 30.3% other: 2.82% (1999) |
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| Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Freepsum Lake -2 m highest point: Zugspitze 2,963 m |
lowest point: Nyoman River 90 m
highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m |
| Environment - current issues | 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 currently attempting to define mechanism for ending the use of nuclear power; government working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in line with the EU's Flora, Fauna, and Habitat directive | soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl' in northern Ukraine |
| Environment - international agreements | 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 |
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
| Ethnic groups | German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Serbo-Croatian, Italian, Russian, Greek, Polish, Spanish) | Belarusian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish 3.9%, Ukrainian 2.4%, other 1.1% (1999 census) |
| Exchange rates | euros per US dollar - 1.0659 (January 2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); deutsche marks per US dollar - 1.69 (January 1999), 1.7597 (1998), 1.7341 (1997), 1.5048 (1996) | Belarusian rubles per US dollar - 2,160.26 (2004), 2,051.27 (2003), 1,790.92 (2002), 1,390 (2001), 876.75 (2000) |
| Executive branch | 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 27 September 1998 (next to be held in the fall of 2002) election results: Johannes RAU elected president; percent of Federal Convention vote - 57.6%; Gerhard SCHROEDER elected chancellor; percent of Federal Assembly - 52.7% |
chief of state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994)
head of government: Prime Minister Sergei SIDORSKY (since 19 December 2003); First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir SEMASHKO (since December 2003) 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 referendum; new election held 9 September 2001; October 2004 referendum ended presidential term limits allowing president to run for a third term in September 2006; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO reelected president; percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 75.6%, Vladimir GONCHARIK 15.4% |
| Exports | $578 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | 14,500 bbl/day (2003 est.) |
| Exports - commodities | machinery, vehicles, chemicals, metals and manufactures, foodstuffs, textiles | machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals; textiles, foodstuffs |
| Exports - partners | EU 55.3% (France 11.3%, UK 8.3%, Italy 7.3%, Netherlands 6.3%, Belgium/Luxembourg 5.1%), US 10.1%, Japan 2.0% (1999) | Russia 47%, UK 8.3%, Netherlands 6.7%, Poland 5.3% (2004) |
| Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
| Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and gold | 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 Belarusian national ornamention in red |
| GDP | purchasing power parity - $1.936 trillion (2000 est.) | - |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
1.2% industry: 30.4% services: 68.4% (1999) |
agriculture: 11%
industry: 36.4% services: 52.6% (2004 est.) |
| GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $23,400 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $6,800 (2004 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 3% (2000 est.) | 6.4% (2004 est.) |
| Geographic coordinates | 51 00 N, 9 00 E | 53 00 N, 28 00 E |
| Geography - note | strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea | landlocked; glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and for its 11,000 lakes; the country is geologically well endowed with extensive deposits of granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay |
| Heliports | 59 (2000 est.) | 1 (2004 est.) |
| Highways | total:
656,140 km paved: 650,891 km (including 11,400 km of expressways) unpaved: 5,249 km (all-weather) (1998 est.) |
total: 79,990 km
paved: 69,351 km unpaved: 10,639 km (2002) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | - | lowest 10%: 5.1%
highest 10%: 20% (1998) |
| Illicit drugs | 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 | 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; a small and lightly regulated financial center; new anti-money-laundering legislation does not meet international standards; few investigations or prosecutions of money-laundering activities |
| Imports | $505 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | 360,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Imports - commodities | machinery, vehicles, chemicals, foodstuffs, textiles, metals | mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals |
| Imports - partners | EU 52.2% (France 10.5%, Netherlands 7.6%, Italy 7.4%, UK 6.9%, Belgium/Luxembourg 5.6%), US 8.1%, Japan 4.9% (1999) | Russia 68.2%, Germany 6.6%, Ukraine 3.3% (2004) |
| Independence | 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 | 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union) |
| Industrial production growth rate | 4.7% (2000) | 4% (2004 est.) |
| Industries | 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 | metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, televisions, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators |
| Infant mortality rate | 4.71 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | total: 13.37 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 14.3 deaths/1,000 live births female: 12.39 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 2% (2000 est.) | 17.4% (2004 est.) |
| International organization participation | AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BDEAC, BIS, CBSS, CCC, CDB (non-regional), CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, 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, UNOMIG, UPU, WADB (nonregional), WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC | CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, NSG, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer) |
| Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 123 (2000) | - |
| Irrigated land | 4,750 sq km (1993 est.) | 1,150 sq km (1998 est.) |
| Judicial branch | Federal Constitutional Court or Bundesverfassungsgericht (half the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat) | 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 | 40.5 million (1999 est.) | 4.305 million (31 December 2003) |
| Labor force - by occupation | industry 33.4%, agriculture 2.8%, services 63.8% (1999) | agriculture 14%, industry 34.7%, services 51.3% (2003 est.) |
| Land boundaries | total:
3,618 km border countries: Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czech Republic 646 km, Denmark 68 km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 135 km, Netherlands 577 km, Poland 456 km, Switzerland 334 km |
total: 2,900 km
border countries: Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 407 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km |
| Land use | arable land:
33% permanent crops: 1% permanent pastures: 15% forests and woodland: 31% other: 20% (1993 est.) |
arable land: 29.55%
permanent crops: 0.6% other: 69.85% (2001) |
| Languages | German | Belarusian, Russian, other |
| Legal system | civil law system with indigenous concepts; judicial review of legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | based on civil law system |
| Legislative branch | bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Federal Assembly or Bundestag (656 seats usually, but 669 for the 1998 term; 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 27 September 1998 (next to be held by the fall of 2002); 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 40.9%, Alliance '90/Greens 6.7%, CDU/CSU 35.1%, FDP 6.2%, PDS 5.1%; seats by party - SPD 298, Alliance '90/Greens 47, CDU/CSU 245, FDP 43, PDS 36; Federal Council - current composition - votes by party - SPD-led states 26, CDU-led states 28, grand coalitions 15 |
bicameral National Assembly or Natsionalnoye Sobranie consists of the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64 seats; 56 members elected by regional councils and 8 members appointed by the president, all for 4-year terms) and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata Predstaviteley (110 seats; members elected by universal adult suffrage to serve 4-year terms)
elections: last held 18 March and 1 April 2001 and 17 and 31 October 2004; international observers widely denounced the October 2004 elections as flawed and undemocratic, based on massive government falsification; pro-Lukashenko candidates won every seat, after many opposition candidates were disqualified for technical reasons election results: Soviet Respubliki - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NA; Palata Predstaviteley - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NA |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population:
77.61 years male: 74.47 years female: 80.92 years (2001 est.) |
total population: 68.72 years
male: 63.03 years female: 74.69 years (2005 est.) |
| Literacy | definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99% (1977 est.) male: NA% female: NA% |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.6% male: 99.8% female: 99.5% (2003 est.) |
| Location | Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark | Eastern Europe, east of Poland |
| Map references | Europe | Europe |
| Maritime claims | continental shelf:
200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM |
none (landlocked) |
| Merchant marine | total:
457 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,414,724 GRT/7,952,776 DWT ships by type: cargo 169, chemical tanker 10, combination ore/oil 1, container 243, liquefied gas 2, passenger 3, petroleum tanker 7, railcar carrier 2, refrigerated cargo 1, roll on/roll off 12, short-sea passenger 7 (2000 est.) |
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| Military branches | Army, Navy (includes Naval Air Arm), Air Force, Medical Corps, Border Police, Coast Guard | Army, Air and Air Defense Force |
| Military expenditures - dollar figure | $32.8 billion (FY98) | $176.1 million (FY02) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.5% (FY98) | 1.4% (FY02) |
| Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49:
20,851,022 (2001 est.) |
- |
| Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49:
17,760,412 (2001 est.) |
- |
| Military manpower - military age | 18 years of age | - |
| Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males:
482,318 (2001 est.) |
- |
| National holiday | Unity Day, 3 October (1990) | 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:
German(s) adjective: German |
noun: Belarusian(s)
adjective: Belarusian |
| Natural hazards | flooding | NA |
| Natural resources | iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel, arable land | forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay |
| Net migration rate | 4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 2.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
| Pipelines | crude oil 2,500 km (1998) | gas 5,223 km; oil 2,443 km; refined products 1,686 km (2004) |
| Political parties and leaders | Alliance '90/Greens [Renate KUENAST and Fritz KUHN]; Christian Democratic Union or CDU [Angela MERKEL]; Christian Social Union or CSU [Edmund STOIBER, chairman]; Free Democratic Party or FDP [Wolfgang GERHARDT, chairman]; note - Wolfgang GERHARDT will probably be replaced by Guido WESTERWELLE in May 2001; Party of Democratic Socialism or PDS [Gabi ZIMMER]; Social Democratic Party or SPD [Gerhard SCHROEDER, chairman] | Pro-government parties: Agrarian Party or AP [leader NA]; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB [leader NA]; Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR [Anatoliy BARANKEVICH, chairman]; Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus [Sergei GAYDUKEVICH]; Social-Sports Party [leader NA]; Opposition parties: Belarusian Popular Front or BNF [Vintsuk VYACHORKA]; Belarusian Social-Democrat Party Narodnaya Gromada or BSDP NG [Nikolay STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party Hromada [Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairman]; United Civic Party or UCP [Anatol LEBEDKO]; Party of Communists Belarusian or PKB [Sergei KALYAKIN, chairman]; Women's Party "Nadezhda" [Valentina MATUSEVICH, chairperson]
note: the opposition Belarusian Party of Labor [Aleksandr BUKHVOSTOV] was liquidated in August 2004, but remains active |
| Political pressure groups and leaders | employers' organizations; expellee, refugee, trade unions, and veterans groups | NA |
| Population | 83,029,536 (July 2001 est.) | 10,300,483 (July 2005 est.) |
| Population below poverty line | NA% | 27.1% (2003 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 0.27% (2001 est.) | -0.09% (2005 est.) |
| Ports and harbors | Berlin, Bonn, Brake, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cologne, Dresden, Duisburg, Emden, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Luebeck, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Rostock, Stuttgart | Mazyr |
| Radio broadcast stations | AM 51, FM 767, shortwave 4 (1998) | AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998) |
| Radios | 77.8 million (1997) | - |
| Railways | total:
40,826 km including at least 14,253 km electrified and 14,768 km double- or multiple-tracked (1998) note: since privatization in 1994, Deutsche Bahn AG (DBAG) no longer publishes details of the tracks it owns; in addition to the DBAG system there are 102 privately owned railway companies which own an approximate 3,000 km to 4,000 km of the total tracks |
total: 5,512 km
broad gauge: 5,497 km 1.520-m gauge (874 km electrified) standard gauge: 15 km 1.435-m (2004) |
| Religions | Protestant 38%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 1.7%, unaffiliated or other 26.3% | Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.) |
| Sex ratio | 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: 0.63 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.5 male(s)/female total population: 0.88 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
| Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
| Telephone system | 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 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 and includes roaming service to many foreign countries international: satellite earth stations - 14 Intelsat (12 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean), 1 Eutelsat, 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region), 2 Intersputnik (1 Atlantic Ocean region and 1 Indian Ocean region); 7 submarine cable connections; 2 HF radiotelephone communication centers; tropospheric scatter links |
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' fiber optics form synchronous digital hierarchy rings through other countries' systems; an inadequate analog system remains operational international: country code - 375; 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 |
| Telephones - main lines in use | 45.2 million (1997)
note: 46.5 million main lines were installed by yearend 1998 |
3,071,300 (2003) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 15.318 million (April 1999) | 1.118 million (2003) |
| Television broadcast stations | 373 (plus 8,042 repeaters) (1995) | 47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995) |
| Terrain | lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south | generally flat and contains much marshland |
| Total fertility rate | 1.38 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 1.39 children born/woman (2005 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | 9.9% (2000 est.) | 2% officially registered unemployed; large number of underemployed workers (2004) |
| Waterways | 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) |
2,500 km (use limited by location on perimeter of country and by shallowness) (2003) |
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