Natural resources: forest land, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas
Land use: arable land: 29% permanent crops: 1% meadows and pastures: 15% forest and woodland: 0% other: 55%
Irrigated land: 1,490 sq km (1990)
Environment:
current issues: soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of
the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor
accident at Chornobyl'
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Biodiversity,
Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection; signed, but not ratified - Climate Change, Law of
the Sea
Note: landlocked
@Belarus:People
Population: 10,437,418 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 22% (female 1,126,062; male 1,166,439)
15-64 years: 65% (female 3,494,891; male 3,293,196)
65 years and over: 13% (female 913,508; male 443,322) (July 1995 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.3% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 12.98 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)