The present borders of Belarus were established during the turmoil of World War II. former Soviet republic was occupied by the Nazis between 1941 and 1944, when it lost 2.2 million people, including most of its large Jewish population. There are about 400,000 ethnic Poles living in the west of the country.
Population: 9.8 million (UN, 2005) Capital: Minsk Area: 207,595 sq km (80,153 sq miles) Major language: Russian, Belarussian (both official) Major religion: Christianity Life expectancy: 62 years (men), 74 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 Belarussian rouble = 100 kopeks Main exports: Machinery, chemical and petroleum products GNI per capita: US $2,760 (World Bank, 2006) Internet domain: .by International dialling code: +375 Minsk itself looks like any other proud capital, but under the surface you can see that it cannot support it's previous grandeur. Out in the country the situation is even worse, many villages do not have running water and depend upon wells for their water, and even some of these are frozen during the long, hard, winter months.
In the three years following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, 100,000 people, many simple farmers, where re-housed from the radiation hot spots, 55,000 of whom up in high rise apartments, specially built for them in the capital. It was essential to move people away from these contaminated areas, but no one foresaw the social implication of doing so. No land, no work - just despair, alcoholism and high divorce rates.
