Aminet 6/Aminet 6 - June 1995.iso/Aminet/docs/misc/wfbook93_texi.lha/texi/24.data

Text File | 1995-03-27 | 10.9 KB | 383 lines

@node Geography (Belarus)
@section Geography (Belarus)

@display

Location:
  Eastern Europe, between Poland and Russia
Map references:
  Asia, Commonwealth of Independent States - European States, Europe, Standard
  Time Zones of the World
Area:
 total area:
  207,600 km2
 land area:
  207,600 km2
 comparative area:
  slightly smaller than Kansas
Land boundaries:   total 3,098 km, Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 605 km, Russia 959
  km, Ukraine 891 km
Coastline:
  0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims:
  none; landlocked
International disputes:
  none
Climate:
  mild and moist; transitional between continental and maritime
Terrain:
  generally flat and contains much marshland
Natural resources:
  forest land, peat deposits
Land use:
 arable land:
  29%
 permanent crops:
  0%
 meadows and pastures:
  15%
 forest and woodland:
  0%
 other:
  56%
Irrigated land:
  1,490 km2 (1990)
Environment:
  southern part of Belarus highly contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear
  reactor accident at Chornobyl'
Note:
  landlocked



@end display

@node People (Belarus)
@section People (Belarus)

@display

Population:
  10,370,269 (July 1993 est.)
Population growth rate:
  0.34% (1993 est.)
Birth rate:
  13.28 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Death rate:
  11.1 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Net migration rate:
  1.26 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
  19.2 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
 total population:
  70.73 years
 male:
  66.04 years
 female:
  75.66 years (1993 est.)
Total fertility rate:
  1.89 children born/woman (1993 est.)
Nationality:
 noun:
  Belarusian(s)
 adjective:
  Belarusian
Ethnic divisions:
  Belarusian 77.9%, Russian 13.2%, Polish 4.1%, Ukrainian 2.9%, other 1.9%
Religions:
  Eastern Orthodox NA%, other NA%
Languages:
  Byelorussian, Russian, other
Literacy:
  age 9-49 can read and write (1970)
 total population:
  100%
 male:
  100%
 female:
  100%
Labor force:
  5.418 million
 by occupation:
  industry and construction 42%, agriculture and forestry 20%, other 38%
  (1990)



@end display

@node Government (Belarus)
@section Government (Belarus)

@display

Names:
 conventional long form:
  Republic of Belarus
 conventional short form:
  Belarus
 local long form:
  Respublika Belarus
 local short form:
  none
 former:
  Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist Republic
Digraph:
  BO
Type:
  republic
Capital:
  Minsk
Administrative divisions:
  6 oblasts (voblastsi, singular - voblasts') and one municipality* (harady,,   singular - horad);
Brestskaya, Homyel'skaya, Minsk*, Hrodzyenskaya,,   Mahilyowskaya, Minskaya, Vitsyebskaya
 note:
  each voblasts' has the same name as its administrative center
Independence:
  25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
Constitution:
  adopted NA April 1978
Legal system:
  based on civil law system
National holiday:
  24 August (1991)
Political parties and leaders:
  Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), Zenon PAZNYAK, chairman; United Democratic
  Party of Belarus (UDPB), Aleksandr DOBROVOLSKIY, chairman; Social Democratic
  Party of Belarus (SDBP), Mikhail TKACHEV, chairman; Belarus Workers Union,
  Mikhail SOBOL, Chairman; Belarus Peasants Party; Party of People's Unity,
  Gennadiy KARPENKO; Communist Party of Belarus
Suffrage:
  18 years of age; universal
Elections:
 Supreme Soviet:
  last held 4 April 1990 (next to be held NA); results - Communists 87%; seats
  - (360 total) number of seats by party NA; note - 50 seats are for public
  bodies; the Communist Party obtained an overwhelming majority
Executive branch:
  chairman of the Supreme Soviet, chairman of the Council of Ministers; note -
  Belarus has approved a directly elected presidency but so far no elections
  have been scheduled
Legislative branch:
  unicameral Supreme Soviet
Judicial branch:
  Supreme Court
Leaders:
 Chief of State:
  Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Stanislav S. SHUSHKEVICH (since 18 September
  1991)
 Head of Government:
  Prime Minister Vyacheslav F. KEBICH (since NA April 1990), First Deputy
  Prime Minister Mikhail MYASNIKOVICH (since NA 1991)



@end display

@node Government (Belarus 2. usage)
@section Government (Belarus 2. usage)

@display

Member of:
  CBSS (observer), CIS, CSCE, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ILO, IMF, INMARSAT, IOC, ITU,
  NACC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO
Diplomatic representation in US:
 chief of mission:
  Ambassador Designate Sergey Nikolayevich MARTYNOV
 chancery:
  1511 K Street NW, Suite 619, Washington, DC 20036
 telephone:
  [phone]
US diplomatic representation:
 chief of mission:
  Ambassador David H. SWARTZ
 embassy:
  Starovilenskaya #46, Minsk
 mailing address:
  APO AE 09862  telephone:
  7-0172-34-65-37
Flag:
  three horizontal bands of white (top), red, and white



@end display

@node Economy (Belarus)
@section Economy (Belarus)

@display

Overview:
  In many ways Belarus resembles the three Baltic states, for example, in its
  industrial competence, its higher-than-average standard of living, and its
  critical dependence on the other former Soviet states for fuels and raw
  materials. Belarus ranks fourth in gross output among the former Soviet
  republics, having produced 4% of the total GDP and employing 4% of the labor
  force in the old USSR. Once a mainly agricultural area, it now supplies
  important producer and consumer goods - sometimes as the sole producer - to
  the other states. Belarus had a significant share of the machine-building
  capacity of the former USSR. It is especially noted for production of
  tractors, large trucks, machine tools, and automation equipment. The soil in
  Belarus is not as fertile as the black earth of Ukraine, but by emphasizing
  favorable crops and livestock (especially pigs and chickens), Belarus has
  become a net exporter to the other former republics of meat, milk, eggs,
  flour, and potatoes. Belarus produces only small amounts of oil and gas and
  receives most of its fuel from Russia through the Druzhba oil pipeline and
  the Northern Lights gas pipeline. These pipelines transit Belarus en route
  to Eastern Europe. Belarus produces petrochemicals, plastics, synthetic
  fibers (nearly 30% of former Soviet output), and fertilizer (20% of former
  Soviet output). Raw material resources are limited to potash and peat
  deposits. The peat (more than one-third of the total for the former Soviet
  Union) is used in domestic heating, as boiler fuel for electric power
  stations, and in the production of chemicals. The potash supports fertilizer
  production. In 1992 GDP fell an estimated 13%, largely because the country
  is highly dependent on the ailing Russian economy for raw materials and
  parts.
National product:
  GDP $NA
National product real growth rate:
  -13% (1992 est.)
National product per capita:
  $NA
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
  30% per month (first quarter 1993)
Unemployment rate:
  0.5% of officially registered unemployed; large numbers of underemployed
  workers
Budget:
  revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Exports:
  $1.1 billion to outside of the successor states of the former USSR (f.o.b.,
  1992)
 commodities:
  machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs
 partners:
  NA
Imports:   $751 million from outside the successor states of the former USSR (c.i.f.,
  1992)
 commodities:
  machinery, chemicals, textiles
 partners:
  NA
External debt:
  $2.6 billion (end of 1991)
Industrial production:
  growth rate -9.6%; accounts for about 50% of GDP (1992)



@end display

@node Economy (Belarus 2. usage)
@section Economy (Belarus 2. usage)

@display

Electricity:
  8,025,000 kW capacity; 37,600 million kWh produced, 3,626 kWh per capita
  (1992)
Industries:
  employ about 27% of labor force and produce a wide variety of products
  essential to the other states; products include (in percent share of total
  output of former Soviet Union): tractors (12%); metal-cutting machine tools
  (11%); off-highway dump trucks up to 110-metric-ton load capacity (100%);
  wheel-type earthmovers for construction and mining (100%); eight-
  wheel-drive, high-flotation trucks with cargo capacity of 25 metric tons for
  use in tundra and roadless areas (100%); equipment for animal husbandry and
  livestock feeding (25%); motorcycles (21.3%); television sets (11%);
  chemical fibers (28%); fertilizer (18%); linen fabric (11%); wool fabric
  (7%); radios; refrigerators; and other consumer goods
Agriculture:
  accounts for almost 25% of GDP and 5.7% of total agricultural output of
  former Soviet Union; employs 20% of the labor force; in 1988 produced the
  following (in percent of total Soviet production): grain (3.6%), potatoes
  (12.2%), vegetables (3.0%), meat (6.0%), milk (7.0%); net exporter of meat,
  milk, eggs, flour, potatoes
Illicit drugs:
  illicit producer of opium and cannabis; mostly for the domestic market;
  transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe
Economic aid:
  NA
Currency:
  1 rubel (abbreviation NA) = 10 Russian rubles
 note:
  the rubel circulates with the Russian ruble; certain purchase are made only
  with rubels; government has established a different, and varying, exchange
  rate for trade between Belarus and Russia
Exchange rates:
  NA
Fiscal year:
  calendar year



@end display

@node Communications (Belarus)
@section Communications (Belarus)

@display

Railroads:   5,570 km; does not include industrial lines (1990)
Highways:
  98,200 km total; 66,100 km hard surfaced, 32,100 km earth (1990)
Inland waterways:
  NA km
Pipelines:
  crude oil 1,470 km, refined products 1,100 km, natural gas 1,980 km (1992)
Ports:
  none; landlocked
Merchant marine:
  claims 5% of former Soviet fleet
Airports:
 total:
  124
 useable:
  55
 with permanent-surface runways:
  31
 with runways over 3,659 m:
  1
 with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
  28
 with runways 1,220-2,439 m:
  20
Telecommunications:
  construction of NMT-450 analog cellular network proceeding in Minsk, in
  addition to installation of some 300 km of fiber optic cable in the city
  network; telephone network has 1.7 million lines, 15% of which are switched
  automatically; Minsk has 450,000 lines; telephone density is approximately
  17 per 100 persons; as of 1 December 1991, 721,000 applications from
  households for telephones were still unsatisfied; international connections
  to other former Soviet republics are by landline or microwave and to other
  countries by leased connection through the Moscow international gateway
  switch; Belarus has not constructed ground stations for international
  telecommunications via satellite to date



@end display

@node Defense Forces (Belarus)
@section Defense Forces (Belarus)

@display

Branches:
  Army, Air Forces, Air Defense Forces, Security Forces (internal and border
  troops)
Manpower availability:
  males age 15-49 2,491,039; fit for military service 1,964,577; reach
  military age (18) annually 71,875 (1993 est.)
Defense expenditures:
  56.5 billion rubles, NA% of GDP (1993 est.); note - conversion of the
  military budget into US dollars using the current exchange rate could
  produce misleading results



@end display