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Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Covering an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) and with a population of 9.2 million, Belarus is the 13th-largest and the 20th-most populous country in Europe. The country has a hemiboreal climate and is administratively divided into six regions. Minsk is the capital and largest city; it is administered separately as a city with special status.
Belarusians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. More than 9.5 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 8 million Belarusians reside in Belarus, with the United States and Russia being home to more than half a million Belarusians each.
The lands of Belarus during the Middle Ages became part of Kievan Rus' and were split between different principalities, including Polotsk, Turov, Vitebsk, and others. Following the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, these lands were absorbed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which later was merged into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th century.
Belarusian is an East Slavic language. It is one of the two official languages in Belarus, alongside Russian. Additionally, it is spoken in some parts of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Ukraine by Belarusian minorities in those countries.
Minsk is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk Region and Minsk District. As of 2023, it has a population of two million, making Minsk the 11th-most populous city in Europe. Minsk is one of the administrative capitals of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
The demographics of Belarus is about the demographic features of the population of Belarus, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.
The politics of Belarus takes place in a framework of a presidential republic with a bicameral parliament. The President of Belarus is the head of state. Executive power is nominally exercised by the government, at its top sits a ceremonial prime minister, appointed directly by the President. Legislative power is de jure vested in the bicameral parliament, the National Assembly, however the president may enact decrees that are executed the same way as laws, for undisputed time.
The mass media in Belarus are mass-media outlets based in Belarus. Television, magazines, and newspapers are operated by state-owned and for-profit corporations and depend on advertising, subscriptions, and other sales-related revenue. The Constitution of Belarus guarantees freedom of speech, but this is contradicted in practice by repressive and restrictive laws. Arbitrary detention, arrests, and harassment of journalists are frequent in Belarus. Anti-extremism legislation targets independent journalism, including material considered unfavourable to the president.
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko is a Belarusian politician who has been the president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994. This makes him the longest-serving European president.
Vitebsk Region or Viciebsk Region, also known as Vitebsk Oblast or Vitsyebsk Voblasts, is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center is Vitebsk. It is located in the north of the country, and borders on Russia.
The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus is the ultimate law of Belarus. The Constitution is composed of a preamble and nine sections divided into 146 articles.
Belarusian culture is the product of a millennium of development under the impact of a number of diverse factors. These include the physical environment; the ethnographic background of Belarusians ; the paganism of the early settlers and their hosts; Eastern Orthodox Christianity as a link to the Byzantine literary and cultural traditions; the country's lack of natural borders; the flow of rivers toward both the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea; and the variety of religions in the region.
The president of the Republic of Belarus is the head of state and head of government of Belarus. The office was created in 1994 with the passing of the Constitution of Belarus by the Supreme Council. This replaced the office of Chairman of the Supreme Council as the head of state. The tasks of the president include executing foreign and domestic policy, defending the rights and general welfare of citizens and residents, and upholding the Constitution. The president is mandated by the Constitution to serve as a leader in the social affairs of the country and to act as its main representative abroad. The duties, responsibilities and other transitional clauses dealing with the presidency are listed in Chapter Three, Articles 79 through 89, of the Constitution.
Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum in north London, England, is the only library outside Belarus to collect exclusively in the field of Belarusian studies. It was formally established as an independent institution in 1971 and is owned by a charitable trust. The library — alongside the Belarusian Catholic Mission in England, Anglo-Belarusian Society and the Journal of Belarusian Studies — had a significant role in encouraging Belarusian studies in the United Kingdom and outside Belarus in second half of the 20th century.
Christianity is the main religion in Belarus, with Eastern Orthodoxy being the largest denomination. The legacy of the state atheism of the Soviet era is evident in the fact that a part of the Belarusians are not religious. Moreover, other non-traditional and new religions have sprung up in the country after the end of the Soviet Union.
The economy of Belarus is an upper-middle income mixed economy. As a post-Soviet transition economy, Belarus rejected most privatisation efforts in favour of retaining centralised political and economic controls by the state. The highly centralized Belarusian economy emphasizes full employment and a dominant public sector. It has been described as a welfare state or market socialist. Belarus is the world's 74th-largest economy by GDP.
The Belarusian diaspora refers to emigrants from the territory of Belarus as well as to their descendants.
The Belarusian opposition consists of groups and individuals in Belarus seeking to challenge, from 1988 to 1991, the authorities of Soviet Belarus, and since 1995, the leader of the country Alexander Lukashenko, whom supporters of the movement often consider to be a dictator. Supporters of the movement tend to call for a parliamentary democracy based on a Western model, with freedom of speech and political and religious pluralism.
The Russification of Belarus denotes a historical process where the integration of Russian language and culture increasingly influenced Belarusian society, especially during the 20th century.
Germany has an embassy in Minsk. Belarus has an embassy in Berlin, a consulate general in Munich, and two honorary consulates in Cottbus and Hamburg.
References
- ↑ Olga Dovbysh; Katja Lehtisaari (Summer 2020). "Local Media of Post-Soviet Countries: Evidence from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine". Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization. 28 (3): 341.
- ↑ Silitski, Vitali; Goujon, Alexandra; Grajewski, Przemyslaw Zurawski vel; Rontoyanni, Clelia; Trenin, Dmitri (2005). Internal developments in Belarus (Technical report). Changing Belarus. p. 35. JSTOR resrep06940.6.
- 1 2 3 "Number of Newspapers and Magazines in Belarusian Declines in Belarus". Charter'97. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
- ↑ "Mass media in Belarus". Belarus.by. Retrieved 30 December 2023.