Grenada (2005) | Belarus (2003) | |
Administrative divisions | 6 parishes and 1 dependency*; Carriacou and Petit Martinique*, Saint Andrew, Saint David, Saint George, Saint John, Saint Mark, Saint Patrick | 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 |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 33.9% (male 15,329/female 14,997)
15-64 years: 62.7% (male 29,711/female 26,436) 65 years and over: 3.4% (male 1,431/female 1,598) (2005 est.) |
0-14 years: 16.8% (male 885,265; female 848,516)
15-64 years: 68.9% (male 3,456,769; female 3,652,766) 65 years and over: 14.3% (male 490,529; female 988,306) (2003 est.) |
Agriculture - products | bananas, cocoa, nutmeg, mace, citrus, avocados, root crops, sugarcane, corn, vegetables | grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk |
Airports | 3 (2004 est.) | 124 (2002) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2004 est.) |
total: 28
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 21 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 under 914 m: 1 (2002) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | - | total: 96
over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 11 914 to 1,523 m: 14 under 914 m: 67 (2002) |
Area | total: 344 sq km
land: 344 sq km water: 0 sq km |
total: 207,600 sq km
land: 207,600 sq km water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative | twice the size of Washington, DC | slightly smaller than Kansas |
Background | One of the smallest independent countries in the western hemisphere, Grenada was seized by a Marxist military council on 19 October 1983. Six days later the island was invaded by US forces and those of six other Caribbean nations, which quickly captured the ringleaders and their hundreds of Cuban advisers. Free elections were reinstituted the following year. | 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. |
Birth rate | 22.3 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 10.18 births/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $85.8 million
expenditures: $102.1 million, including capital expenditures of $28 million (1997) |
revenues: $4 billion
expenditures: $4.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $180 million (1997 est.) |
Capital | Saint George's | Minsk |
Climate | tropical; tempered by northeast trade winds | cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime |
Coastline | 121 km | 0 km (landlocked) |
Constitution | 19 December 1973 | 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: none
conventional short form: Grenada |
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 | - | Belarusian ruble (BYB/BYR) |
Death rate | 7.17 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 14.05 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Debt - external | $196 million (2000) | $851 million (2001 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: the US Ambassador to Barbados is accredited to Grenada
embassy: Lance-aux-Epines Stretch, Saint George's mailing address: P. O. Box 54, Saint George's, Grenada, West Indies telephone: [1] (473) 444-1173 through 1176 FAX: [1] (473) 444-4820 |
chief of mission: Ambassador Michael G. KOZAK
embassy: 46 Starovilenskaya St., Minsk 220002 mailing address: PSC 78, Box B Minsk, APO 09723 telephone: [375] (17) 210-12-83 FAX: [375] (17) 234-7853 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Denis G. ANTOINE
chancery: 1701 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 265-2561 FAX: [1] (202) 265-2468 consulate(s) general: New York |
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 encouraging illegal border crossing; boundaries with Latvia and Lithuania remain undemarcated despite European Union financial support |
Economic aid - recipient | $8.3 million (1995) | $194.3 million (1995) |
Economy - overview | Grenada relies on tourism as its main source of foreign exchange, especially since the construction of an international airport in 1985. Strong performances in construction and manufacturing, together with the development of an offshore financial industry, have also contributed to growth in national output. | 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 high inflation and persistent trade deficits, 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. 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. |
Electricity - consumption | 138.6 million kWh (2002) | 26.69 billion kWh (2001) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2002) | 300 million kWh (2001) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2002) | 4.3 billion kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production | 149 million kWh (2002) | 24.4 billion kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel: 99.5%
hydro: 0.1% nuclear: 0% other: 0.4% (2001) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Mount Saint Catherine 840 m |
lowest point: Nyoman River 90 m
highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m |
Environment - current issues | NA | 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: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 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 | black 82%, mixed black and European 13%, European and East Indian 5%, and trace of Arawak/Carib Amerindian | Belarusian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish, Ukrainian, and other 7.4% |
Exchange rates | East Caribbean dollars per US dollar - 2.7 (2004), 2.7 (2003), 2.7 (2002), 2.7 (2001), 2.7 (2000) | Belarusian rubles per US dollar - NA (2002), 1,390 (2001), 876.75 (2000), 248.8 (1999), 46.13 (1998) |
Executive branch | chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by Governor General Daniel WILLIAMS (since 9 August 1996)
head of government: Prime Minister Keith MITCHELL (since 22 June 1995) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the governor general |
chief of state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994)
head of government: Prime Minister Sergei SIDORSKY (acting; since 10 July 2003); Deputy Prime Ministers Andrei KOBYAKOV (since 13 March 2000), Sergei SIDORSKY (since 24 September 2001), Vladimir DRAZHIN (since 24 September 2001), Roman VNUCHKO (since 10 July 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 (next election to be held by 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 | NA | NA (2001) |
Exports - commodities | bananas, cocoa, nutmeg, fruit and vegetables, clothing, mace | machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals; textiles, foodstuffs |
Exports - partners | Saint Lucia 12.7%, US 12.2%, Antigua and Barbuda 8.7%, Netherlands 7.9%, Saint Kitts and Nevis 7.8%, Dominica 7.8%, Germany 7.1%, France 4.6% (2004) | Russia 50.8%, Latvia 7.3%, Ukraine 6.3%, Lithuania 4.1%, Germany 4.1% (2002) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | a rectangle divided diagonally into yellow triangles (top and bottom) and green triangles (hoist side and outer side), with a red border around the flag; there are seven yellow, five-pointed stars with three centered in the top red border, three centered in the bottom red border, and one on a red disk superimposed at the center of the flag; there is also a symbolic nutmeg pod on the hoist-side triangle (Grenada is the world's second-largest producer of nutmeg, after Indonesia); the seven stars represent the seven administrative divisions | 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 a Belarusian national ornament in red |
GDP | - | purchasing power parity - $90.19 billion (2002 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 7.7%
industry: 23.9% services: 68.4% (2000) |
agriculture: 15%
industry: 40% services: 45% (2002 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $5,000 (2002 est.) | purchasing power parity - $8,700 (2002 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 2.5% (2002 est.) | 4.7% (2002 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 12 07 N, 61 40 W | 53 00 N, 28 00 E |
Geography - note | the administration of the islands of the Grenadines group is divided between Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada | 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 |
Highways | total: 1,040 km
paved: 638 km unpaved: 402 km (1999 est.) |
total: 74,385 km
paved: 66,203 km unpaved: 8,182 km (2000) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA |
lowest 10%: 5.1%
highest 10%: 20% (1998) |
Illicit drugs | small-scale cannabis cultivation; lesser transshipment point for marijuana and cocaine to US | 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; lax money-laundering and banking regulations |
Imports | NA | NA (2001) |
Imports - commodities | food, manufactured goods, machinery, chemicals, fuel | mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals |
Imports - partners | Trinidad and Tobago 29.6%, US 27.8%, UK 4.8% (2004) | Russia 68.2%, Germany 9.4%, Ukraine 3.2% (2002) |
Independence | 7 February 1974 (from UK) | 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union) |
Industrial production growth rate | 0.7% (1997 est.) | 2.5% (2002 est.) |
Industries | food and beverages, textiles, light assembly operations, tourism, construction | metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators |
Infant mortality rate | total: 14.62 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 14.18 deaths/1,000 live births female: 15.07 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
total: 13.87 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 15.13 deaths/1,000 live births female: 12.56 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 2.8% (2001 est.) | 42.8% (2002 est.) |
International organization participation | ACP, C, Caricom, CDB, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ISO (subscriber), ITU, LAES, MIGA, NAM, OAS, OECS, OPANAL, OPCW (signatory), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WTO | CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NAM, NAM (observer), NSG, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO (observer) |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 23 (2002) |
Irrigated land | NA sq km | 1,150 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | West Indies Associate States Supreme Court (an associate judge resides in Grenada) | 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 | 42,300 (1996) | 4.8 million (2000) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture 24%, industry 14%, services 62% (1999 est.) | industry and construction NA%, agriculture and forestry NA%, services NA% |
Land boundaries | 0 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: 5.88%
permanent crops: 29.41% other: 64.71% (2001) |
arable land: 29.76%
permanent crops: 0.69% other: 69.55% (1998 est.) |
Languages | English (official), French patois | Belarusian, Russian, other |
Legal system | based on English common law | based on civil law system |
Legislative branch | bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (a 13-member body, 10 appointed by the government and three by the leader of the opposition) and the House of Representatives (15 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held on 27 November 2003 (next to be held by November 2008) election results: House of Representatives - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NNP 8, NDC 7 |
bicameral Parliament 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 Pretsaviteley (110 seats; members elected by universal adult suffrage to serve 4-year terms)
elections: last held October 2000 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: party affiliation data unavailable; under present political conditions party designations are meaningless |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 64.53 years
male: 62.74 years female: 66.31 years (2005 est.) |
total population: 68.43 years
male: 62.54 years female: 74.6 years (2003 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98% male: 98% female: 98% (1970 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.6% male: 99.8% female: 99.5% (2003 est.) |
Location | Caribbean, island between the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, north of Trinidad and Tobago | Eastern Europe, east of Poland |
Map references | Central America and the Caribbean | Europe |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
none (landlocked) |
Military branches | no regular military forces; Royal Grenada Police Force | Army, Air Force (including air defense), Interior Ministry Troops, Border Guards |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | NA | $176.1 million (FY02) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | NA | 1.4% (FY02) |
Military manpower - availability | - | males age 15-49: 2,756,572 (2003 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | - | males age 15-49: 2,158,875 (2003 est.) |
Military manpower - military age | - | 18 years of age (2003 est.) |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | - | males: 86,654 (2003 est.) |
National holiday | Independence Day, 7 February (1974) | 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: Grenadian(s)
adjective: Grenadian |
noun: Belarusian(s)
adjective: Belarusian |
Natural hazards | lies on edge of hurricane belt; hurricane season lasts from June to November | NA |
Natural resources | timber, tropical fruit, deepwater harbors | forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay |
Net migration rate | -13.25 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) | 2.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Pipelines | - | gas 4,519 km; oil 1,811 km; refined products 1,686 km (2003) |
Political parties and leaders | Grenada United Labor Party or GULP [Gloria Payne BANFIELD]; National Democratic Congress or NDC [Tillman THOMAS]; New National Party or NNP [Keith MITCHELL]; People Labor Movement or PLM [Dr. Francis ALEXIS] | Agrarian Party or AP [Mikhail SHIMANSKY]; 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 Party or SDBP [Nikolay STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party or Hromada [Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Socialist Party [Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV]; Civic Accord Bloc (United Civic Party) or CAB [Anatol LIABEDZKA]; 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 or "Nadezhda" [Valentina POLEVIKOVA, chairperson] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | NA |
Population | 89,502 (July 2005 est.) | 10,322,151 (July 2003 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 32% (2000) | 22% (1995 est.) |
Population growth rate | 0.19% (2005 est.) | -0.12% (2003 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Saint George's | Mazyr |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 2, FM 13, shortwave 0 (1998) | AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998) |
Railways | - | total: 5,523 km
broad gauge: 5,523 km 1.520-m gauge (875 km electrified) (2002) |
Religions | Roman Catholic 53%, Anglican 13.8%, other Protestant 33.2% | Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.) |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.12 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.9 male(s)/female total population: 1.08 male(s)/female (2005 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 (2003 est.) |
Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: automatic, islandwide telephone system
domestic: interisland VHF and UHF radiotelephone links international: country code - 1-473; new SHF radiotelephone links to Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Vincent; VHF and UHF radio links to Trinidad |
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 |
Telephones - main lines in use | 33,500 (2002) | 2.313 million (1997) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 7,600 (2002) | 8,167 (1997) |
Television broadcast stations | 2 (1997) | 47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995) |
Terrain | volcanic in origin with central mountains | generally flat and contains much marshland |
Total fertility rate | 2.37 children born/woman (2005 est.) | 1.34 children born/woman (2003 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 12.5% (2000) | 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 |