##ciekawa_strona##
Compare Portugal (2001) - Belarus (2003)
Compare Portugal (2001) z Belarus (2003)
| Portugal (2001) | Belarus (2003) | |
 |  | |
| Administrative divisions | 18 districts (distritos, singular - distrito) and 2 autonomous regions* (regioes autonomas, singular - regiao autonoma); Aveiro, Acores (Azores)*, Beja, Braga, Braganca, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Evora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisboa, Madeira*, Portalegre, Porto, Santarem, Setubal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, Viseu | 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:
16.96% (male 877,379; female 830,242) 15-64 years: 67.42% (male 3,321,473; female 3,465,481) 65 years and over: 15.62% (male 637,207; female 934,471) (2001 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 | grain, potatoes, olives, grapes; sheep, cattle, goats, poultry, beef, dairy products | grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk |
| Airports | 66 (2000 est.) | 124 (2002) |
| Airports - with paved runways | total:
40 over 3,047 m: 5 2,438 to 3,047 m: 9 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 17 under 914 m: 5 (2000 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:
26 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 25 (2000 est.) |
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:
92,391 sq km land: 91,951 sq km water: 440 sq km note: includes Azores and Madeira Islands |
total: 207,600 sq km
land: 207,600 sq km water: 0 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Indiana | slightly smaller than Kansas |
| Background | Following its heyday as a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence in 1822 of Brazil as a colony. A 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy; for most of the next six decades repressive governments ran the country. In 1974, a left-wing military coup installed broad democratic reforms. The following year Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies. Portugal entered the EC in 1985. | 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 | 11.51 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 10.18 births/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Budget | revenues:
$48.6 billion expenditures: $50.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $7.7 billion (2000 est.) |
revenues: $4 billion
expenditures: $4.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $180 million (1997 est.) |
| Capital | Lisbon | Minsk |
| Climate | maritime temperate; cool and rainy in north, warmer and drier in south | cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime |
| Coastline | 1,793 km | 0 km (landlocked) |
| Constitution | 25 April 1976, revised 30 October 1982, 1 June 1989, 5 November 1992, and 3 September 1997 | 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:
Portuguese Republic conventional short form: Portugal local long form: Republica Portuguesa local short form: Portugal |
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 | Portuguese escudo (PTE); 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 Portugal at a fixed rate of 200.482 Portuguese escudos per euro and will replace the local currency for all transactions in 2002 |
Belarusian ruble (BYB/BYR) |
| Death rate | 10.21 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 14.05 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Debt - external | $13.1 billion (1997 est.) | $851 million (2001 est.) |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Gerald S. MCGOWAN embassy: Avenida das Forcas Armadas, 1600 Lisbon mailing address: PSC 83, APO AE 09726 telephone: [351] (21) 727-3300 FAX: [351] (21) 726-9109 consulate(s): Ponta Delgada (Azores) |
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 Joao Alberto Bacelar ROCHA PARIS chancery: 2125 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 328-8610 FAX: [1] (202) 462-3726 consulate(s) general: Boston, New York, Newark (New Jersey), and San Francisco consulate(s): Los Angeles, New Bedford (Massachusetts), Providence (Rhode Island) |
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 | - | 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 - donor | ODA, $271 million (1995) | - |
| Economic aid - recipient | - | $194.3 million (1995) |
| Economy - overview | Portugal is an upcoming capitalist economy with a per capita GDP two-thirds that of the four big West European economies. The country qualified for the European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1998 and joined with 10 other European countries in launching the euro on 1 January 1999. The year 2000 was marked by moderation in growth, inflation, and unemployment. The country continues to run a sizable trade deficit. The government is working to reform the tax system, to modernize capital plant, and to increase the country's competitiveness in the increasingly integrated world markets. Growth is expected to fall off slightly in 2001. Improvement in the education sector is critical to the long-run catch-up process. | 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 | 37.915 billion kWh (1999) | 26.69 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - exports | 4.49 billion kWh (1999) | 300 million kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - imports | 3.628 billion kWh (1999) | 4.3 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - production | 41.696 billion kWh (1999) | 24.4 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
79.97% hydro: 17.25% nuclear: 0% other: 2.78% (1999) |
fossil fuel: 99.5%
hydro: 0.1% nuclear: 0% other: 0.4% (2001) |
| Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Ponta do Pico (Pico or Pico Alto) on Ilha do Pico in the Azores 2,351 m |
lowest point: Nyoman River 90 m
highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m |
| Environment - current issues | soil erosion; air pollution caused by industrial and vehicle emissions; water pollution, especially in coastal areas | 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, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Environmental Modification, Nuclear Test Ban |
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 | homogeneous Mediterranean stock; citizens of black African descent who immigrated to mainland during decolonization number less than 100,000 | Belarusian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish, Ukrainian, and other 7.4% |
| Exchange rates | euros per US dollar - 1.0659 (January 2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); Portuguese escudos per US dollar - 180.10 (1998), 175.31 (1997), 154.24 (1996) | Belarusian rubles per US dollar - NA (2002), 1,390 (2001), 876.75 (2000), 248.8 (1999), 46.13 (1998) |
| Executive branch | chief of state:
President Jorge SAMPAIO (since 9 March 1996) head of government: Prime Minister Antonio Manuel de Oliviera GUTERRES (since 28 October 1995) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister note: there is also a Council of State that acts as a consultative body to the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 14 January 2001 (next to be held NA January 2006); following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the president election results: Jorge SAMPAIO re-elected president; percent of vote - Jorge SAMPAIO (Socialist) 55.8%, Joaquim FERREIRA Do Amaral (Social Democrat) 34.5%, Antonio ABREU (Communist) 5.1% |
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 | $26.1 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | NA (2001) |
| Exports - commodities | clothing and footwear, machinery, chemicals, cork and paper products, hides | machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals; textiles, foodstuffs |
| Exports - partners | EU 83% (Germany 20%, Spain 18%, France 14%, UK 12%, Netherlands 5%, Benelux 5%, Italy), US 5% (1999) | Russia 50.8%, Latvia 7.3%, Ukraine 6.3%, Lithuania 4.1%, Germany 4.1% (2002) |
| Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
| Flag description | two vertical bands of green (hoist side, two-fifths) and red (three-fifths) with the Portuguese coat of arms centered on the dividing line | 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 - $159 billion (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $90.19 billion (2002 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
4% industry: 36% services: 60% (1999 est.) |
agriculture: 15%
industry: 40% services: 45% (2002 est.) |
| GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $15,800 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $8,700 (2002 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 2.7% (2000 est.) | 4.7% (2002 est.) |
| Geographic coordinates | 39 30 N, 8 00 W | 53 00 N, 28 00 E |
| Geography - note | Azores and Madeira Islands occupy strategic locations along western sea approaches to Strait of Gibraltar | 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:
68,732 km paved: 59,110 km (including 797 km of expressways) unpaved: 9,622 km (1999) |
total: 74,385 km
paved: 66,203 km unpaved: 8,182 km (2000) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
3.1% highest 10%: 28.4% (1995 est.) |
lowest 10%: 5.1%
highest 10%: 20% (1998) |
| Illicit drugs | important gateway country for Latin American cocaine and Southwest Asian heroin entering the European market; transshipment point for hashish from North Africa to Europe; consumer of Southwest Asian heroin | 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 | $41 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | NA (2001) |
| Imports - commodities | machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum, textiles, agricultural products | mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals |
| Imports - partners | EU 78% (Spain 25%, Germany 15%, France 11%, Italy 8%, UK 7%, Netherlands 5%), US 3%, Japan 3% (1998) | Russia 68.2%, Germany 9.4%, Ukraine 3.2% (2002) |
| Independence | 1140 (independent republic proclaimed 5 October 1910) | 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union) |
| Industrial production growth rate | 2.9% (1999 est.) | 2.5% (2002 est.) |
| Industries | textiles and footwear; wood pulp, paper, and cork; metalworking; oil refining; chemicals; fish canning; wine; tourism | metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators |
| Infant mortality rate | 5.94 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 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% (2000 est.) | 42.8% (2002 est.) |
| International organization participation | AfDB, Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECLAC, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MINURSO, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNTAET, UPU, WCL, WEU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC | 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) | 16 (2000) | 23 (2002) |
| Irrigated land | 6,300 sq km (1993 est.) | 1,150 sq km (1998 est.) |
| Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Supremo Tribunal de Justica (judges appointed for life by the Conselho Superior da Magistratura) | 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 | 5 million (1999) | 4.8 million (2000) |
| Labor force - by occupation | services 60%, industry 30%, agriculture 10% (1999 est.) | industry and construction NA%, agriculture and forestry NA%, services NA% |
| Land boundaries | total:
1,214 km border countries: Spain 1,214 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:
26% permanent crops: 9% permanent pastures: 9% forests and woodland: 36% other: 20% (1993 est.) |
arable land: 29.76%
permanent crops: 0.69% other: 69.55% (1998 est.) |
| Languages | Portuguese | Belarusian, Russian, other |
| Legal system | civil law system; the Constitutional Tribunal reviews the constitutionality of legislation; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations | based on civil law system |
| Legislative branch | unicameral Assembly of the Republic or Assembleia da Republica (230 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 10 October 1999 (next to be held by NA October 2003) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PS 115, PSD 81, PCP 15, PP 15, PEV 2, The Left Bloc 2 |
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:
75.94 years male: 72.44 years female: 79.68 years (2001 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: 87.4% 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 | Southwestern Europe, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Spain | Eastern Europe, east of Poland |
| Map references | Europe | Europe |
| Maritime claims | contiguous zone:
24 NM 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:
158 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,053,586 GRT/1,611,238 DWT ships by type: bulk 14, cargo 84, chemical tanker 16, container 10, liquefied gas 7, multi-functional large-load carrier 1, petroleum tanker 11, refrigerated cargo 1, roll on/roll off 6, short-sea passenger 4, vehicle carrier 4 note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Spain 1 (2000 est.) |
- |
| Military branches | Army, Navy (includes Marines), Air Force, National Republican Guard | Army, Air Force (including air defense), Interior Ministry Troops, Border Guards |
| Military expenditures - dollar figure | $2.458 billion (FY97) | $176.1 million (FY02) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.6% (FY97) | 1.4% (FY02) |
| Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49:
2,530,466 (2001 est.) |
males age 15-49: 2,756,572 (2003 est.) |
| Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49:
2,030,759 (2001 est.) |
males age 15-49: 2,158,875 (2003 est.) |
| Military manpower - military age | 20 years of age | 18 years of age (2003 est.) |
| Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males:
71,404 (2001 est.) |
males: 86,654 (2003 est.) |
| National holiday | Portugal Day, 10 June (1580) | 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:
Portuguese (singular and plural) adjective: Portuguese |
noun: Belarusian(s)
adjective: Belarusian |
| Natural hazards | Azores subject to severe earthquakes | NA |
| Natural resources | fish, forests (cork), tungsten, iron ore, uranium ore, marble, arable land, hydro power | forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay |
| Net migration rate | 0.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 2.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Pipelines | crude oil 22 km; petroleum products 58 km; natural gas 700 km
note: the secondary lines for the natural gas pipeline that will be 300 km long have not yet been built |
gas 4,519 km; oil 1,811 km; refined products 1,686 km (2003) |
| Political parties and leaders | The Greens or PEV [leader NA]; Popular Party or PP [Paulo PORTAS]; Portuguese Communist Party/United Democratic Coalition or PCP/CDU [Carlos CARVALHAS]; Portuguese Socialist Party or PS [Antonio GUTERRES]; Social Democratic Party or PSD [leader vacant]; The Left Bloc [no leader] | 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 | 10,066,253 (July 2001 est.) | 10,322,151 (July 2003 est.) |
| Population below poverty line | NA% | 22% (1995 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 0.18% (2001 est.) | -0.12% (2003 est.) |
| Ports and harbors | Aveiro, Funchal (Madeira Islands), Horta (Azores), Leixoes, Lisbon, Porto, Ponta Delgada (Azores), Praia da Vitoria (Azores), Setubal, Viana do Castelo | Mazyr |
| Radio broadcast stations | AM 47, FM 172 (many are repeaters), shortwave 2 (1998) | AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998) |
| Radios | 3.02 million (1997) | - |
| Railways | total:
2,850 km broad gauge: 2,576 km 1.668-m gauge (623 km electrified; 426 km double track) narrow gauge: 274 km 1.000-m gauge (1998) |
total: 5,523 km
broad gauge: 5,523 km 1.520-m gauge (875 km electrified) (2002) |
| Religions | Roman Catholic 94%, Protestant (1995) | Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.) |
| Sex ratio | at birth:
1.07 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.68 male(s)/female total population: 0.92 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 (2003 est.) |
| Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
| Telephone system | general assessment:
undergoing rapid development in recent years, Portugal's telephone system, by the end of 1998, achieved a state-of-the-art network with broadband, high-speed capabilities and a main line telephone density of 53% domestic: integrated network of coaxial cables, open wire, microwave radio relay, and domestic satellite earth stations international: 6 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), NA Eutelsat; tropospheric scatter to Azores; note - an earth station for Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region) is planned |
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 | 5.3 million (end 1998) | 2.313 million (1997) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 3,074,194 (1999) | 8,167 (1997) |
| Television broadcast stations | 62 (plus 166 repeaters)
note: includes Azores and Madeira Islands (1995) |
47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995) |
| Terrain | mountainous north of the Tagus River, rolling plains in south | generally flat and contains much marshland |
| Total fertility rate | 1.48 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 1.34 children born/woman (2003 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | 4.3% (2000 est.) | 2.1% officially registered unemployed (December 2000); large number of underemployed workers |
| Waterways | 820 km
note: relatively unimportant to national economy, used by shallow-draft craft limited to 300 metric-ton or less cargo capacity |
NA km; note - Belarus has extensive and widely used canal and river systems |
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