 Government
The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus is the basis for the development of the country’s legislation. It is not by chance that it is called the Fundamental Law of the state. The President of the Republic of Belarus is the Head of the State, the guarantor of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, civil and human rights. The Parliament – the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus – is a representative and legislative body of the Republic of Belarus. The Government is headed by the Prime Minister appointed by the President of the Republic by approbation of the House of Representatives.  more
Geographical position
The Republic of Belarus is situated in the center of Europe on the watershed of the Baltic and Black Seas. Belarus borders on Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine. The total length of the state border makes up 2,969 km. Geographic and climatic conditions favor the development of transport and economic relations. The main track of Eurasia as well as the shortest ways from Russia to Western Europe and from the Baltic Sea to the Black sea run through Belarus. The distance between Minsk and the capitals of neighboring states is as follows: Vilnius - 215 km, Riga - 470 km, Warsaw - 550 km, Kiev – 580 km, Moscow - 700 km. more
Territory
The territory of Belarus totals 207.6 thousand sq km. It stretches from west to east for 650 km and from north to south for 560 km. The country’s relief is predominantly flat and hilly, with the average height of 160 m over the sea level. The highest point is 345 m. The lowest point is situated in the Neman’s valley- 90 m above the sea level. In comparison with other European countries, Belarus is slightly smaller than Great Britain and Rumania, 2.2 times as big as Portugal and Hungary and 5 times as big as the Netherlands and Switzerland. more
Administrative division
Belarus consists of 6 regions (oblasts’ in Russian, voblasts’ in Belarussian): the Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk and Mogiliov regions, which include 118 political units called districts (rayon in Russian) and the city of Minsk. There are 110 towns and 101 urban-type settlements in the republic. more
Population
Today 130 nationalities live together with Belarusians. In addition to the Belarusians (81.2%) the Republic of Belarus is populated by the Russians (11.4%), Ukrainians (2.4), Poles (3.9%), Hebrews (0.3%), Armenians (over 10 thousand people), Azerbaijanians (over 6 thousand people), Moldavians and Germans (over 4 thousand people), Georgians (over 3 thousand people).The population of 7 towns numbers from 100 to 200 thousand, 7 cities have the population from 200 to 500 thousand. At present 1.8 million inhabitants live in the capital. more
Climate
Belarusian climate is moderately continental, a transitional form from maritime to continental climate with mild and humid winters, warm summers and damp autumns. Average July temperatures range from +17º C to +18.5º C, January temperatures vary from -8ºC to -4.5ºC. The period with temperatures above zero lasts about 230-263 days. more
Agricultural lands
Agricultural lands occupy 44% of the republic’s territory, including 27% of arable lands. The per capita stock of agricultural lands in Belarus is 0.9 hectares, including 0.6 hectares of arable land.
Forests
Forests constitute 33 % of the country’s area. The per capita forest ratio is 0.8 hectares and 135 cubic metres of wood stock (forest density), which is twice as much as the average European figures. The forest potential is high with annual wood stock addition of 35 mln cubic metres. Forests contain significant nature resources of food, melliferous, medicinal and industrial plants.
Rivers and Lakes
In Belarus there are over 20 thousand rivers and springs with the total length of about 91 thousand km and about 11 thousand lakes, including 470 lakes with the area of over 0.5 sq km. The largest lake is Naroch (79.6 sq km, the deepest point is 25 metres). The navigation is carried out on the rivers Pripiats, Dnieper, Neman, Berezina and Western Dvina as well as on the Dnieper –Bug Canal. 145 water reservoirs are created in Belarus. River water resources amount to 57.9 cubic km a year. The total lake water volume is 6-7 cubic km and the total water volume in artificial reservoirs is 3.1 cubic km. Water consumption for domestic and industrial needs does not exceed on average 5-7% of the annually renewable water resources. more
Natural resources
In Belarus 30 minerals are explored (about 4,000 fields and beds of mineral wealth). The prospected industrial stock of potash salt deposits exceeds 22 billion tons. The total geological peat stock is estimated at 4.4 billion tons. The volume of minerals which are being extracted at the moment is equal to 600 million tons. Mineral waters are wide spread, 63 springs with the total stock of 155,572 cubic metres a day have been prospected. Another important nature resource is sapropels, which stock is estimated at 3 billion cubic metres. more
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