28 Incredible Facts About Belarus

Belarus is a unique and beautiful country with a rich historical past and a unique natural environment. Belarus is located in Eastern Europe and shares borders with five countries. Belarusians are warm and welcoming people. Belarus is also sometimes referred to as the “Lungs of Europe,” as it is home to one of the last and largest remnants of the vast primeval forest that once covered the European Plain – the Biaowiea Forest. So, take a look at these facts about Belarus that you might find interesting.

1. The country is a landlocked country and shares borders with Russia to the east and northeast, Lativa to the north, Lithuania to the northwest, and Ukraine to the south.
2. One president and three prime ministers of Israel were born in Belarus.
   (i)Chaim Weizmann(November 27, 1874 – November 9, 1952) was the first president of Israel who was born in Motal, Belarus.
   (ii)Shimon Peres (August 2, 1923 – September 28, 2016), who won the Nobel prize in 1994 and was the president of Israel(2007-2014), was elected as prime minister twice and was an intern prime minister too in the 1970s and 1990s.
   (iii)Menachem Begin(August 16, 1913 – March 9, 1992) was the sixth prime minister of Israel.
   (iv) Yitzhak Shamir (October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was the seventh prime minister of Israel
3. Belarusians are known for their hospitality and are hard-working people.
4. Belarus is known as the silicon valley of eastern Europe. There are about 1000 plus companies in the IT park.
5. The largest dump and mining truck is produced in Belarus. The truck tires have a height of 4 meters, weigh about 360 tonnes, and will cost about 10 million USD.

   

6. The country’s main export revenue comes from refined petroleum($5.34 billion). Some other major exports are potassic fertilizers ($2.27 billion), delivery trucks ($1.04 billion), cheese ($797 million), tractors($614 million).
7. The main imports of the country are Crude Petroleum ($5.32 Billion), Petroleum Gas ($2.79 Billion), Refined Petroleum ($1.08 Billion), Cars ($549 million), and Packaged Medicaments ($455 million).
8. Belarus main export destinations are Russia ($12.5 Billion), Ukraine ($3.39 Billion), the United Kingdom ($2.38 Billion), Germany ($1.12 Billion), and the Netherlands ($1.11Billion).
9. The top import origins are Russia ($18.5 Billion), China ($2.59 Billion), Germany ($1.72 Billion), Poland ($1.41 Billion), and Ukraine ($1.18 Billion).
10. Belarus people are very fond of potatoes, and there are over 300 dishes made up of potatoes in the country. In fact the country has a national dish too which is Draniki which is made from potatoes only.

    

11. The national bird of the country is white stork.
12. In Belarus, towels are considered to be an integral part of the society. It is even on the flag of the country. When a traditional Belarusian wedding happens, the bride walks to the church dragging a towel.
13. Belarus has a high literacy rate of over 99.7 percent.
14. The country has a high human development index too. It stands at 0.817, which ranks at 50 out of 189 countries. The(HDI) human development index increased from 0.656 in 1995 to 0.817 in 2018, which is an increase of 24.5 percent.
15. The oldest city in the country is Polatsk which was first mentioned in the chronicles in 862 AD. Polasek was the capital region of Polatsk.

    

16. Belarus’s unemployment rate is about 5.71 percent in 2018, which is considered to be low as compared to many other countries.
17. Belarus has about 831 magazines and various other journals, 728 domestic newspapers, 100 TV programs, 174 radio channels, including 30 FM radio stations and nine news agencies. There are various 200 foreign TV channels that are rebroadcast; the majority of them are from Russia.
18. The word Belarus is closely related to the term Belaya Rus that is, White Rus’. The word Rus is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia. Thus Belarus is often referred to as White Russia or White Ruthenia
19. As of 2017, the country had 24 banks and three non-bank financial institutions.
20. European buffalo or European Bison is the official National animal of Belarus.

    

21. There is about 38.05 percent of total land still covered as forests which is approximately 7,894,000 hectares.
22. Agriculture is an integral part of the country and accounts for about 7.8 percent of the country’s total GDP in 2013.
23. Belarus has about 1.5 million cows which they use for milk yields and beef.
24. The country is also the highest per capita consumption of fluid milk. An average person drank 111.09 kilograms of milk in the year 2018.
25. The country’s national emblem features a ribbon in the colors of the national flag, wheatears, a red star, and the map of Belarus in the middle. It is sometimes referred to as the coat of arms of Belarus too.

    

26. The government of Belarus has made military service a must for males between 18 and 27 years of age. Military service is a compulsion for 18 months and 12 months for university graduates.
27. The average salary of Belarus is about BYR 220,965,648 or about US$15,880.
28. The people of Belarus celebrate a festival called maslenitsa in which pancakes are being eaten for a complete one week.