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Welcome To Belarus
Country number
171
Selected MR Agencies

An Introduction to Belarus

Belarus is flat (its highest point is Dzyarzhynsk Hill, at 345m...), green (40% is covered by forest) and landlocked. The country has been governed since 1994 by Alexander Lukashenko, who in his own words adopts 'an authoritarian ruling style' - Western powers have described the regime as a dictatorship. The Council of Europe barred the country from membership as long ago as 1997 for election irregularities, and since the last vote, in 2010, many opposition candidates have been arrested and imprisoned. Lukashenko pursues Soviet-style policies including state ownership of the economy; the country has strong ties with Russia and there has been talk of a political union between the two. See full country profile.

Latest Research News from Europe (Other)

Mar 26
Advertising Resource Management (ARM) software company MINT has appointed Christoph Kruse as Global Marketing Director. He was previously Director of Regional Marketing in Europe at Outbrain. Mar 26 2024
Mar 18
European research agency Bilendi has appointed Cecilia Glauser as the Country Manager for Sweden, replacing Björn Söderlin. Mar 18 2024


11 current Other European jobs including:

Research Manager - Social Insights, Remote Working (GMT plus / minus 3h time zone), GBP 35-42,000 (depending on qualifications, expertise and experience) - (posted Mar 7 2024)
Survey Research Manager, Remote Working - Worldwide, $ Competitive salary - (posted Feb 27 2024)
Head of Consumer Market Intelligence (CMI), Kilchberg, Switzerland, CHF Competitive - (posted Nov 20 2023)
Head of Consumer Market Intelligence (CMI), Kilchberg, Switzerland, CHF Competitive - (posted Nov 17 2023)


Fast Facts
Map of Belarus
CAPITAL: Minsk
GOVERNMENT: Presidential Republic
AREA: 207,595 sq km
POPULATION: 9,503,807 (2009 census)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Belarusian, Russian
Wooden church, Belarus
Wooden church, Belarus


Spun Gold Vitaly Venediktovich Scherbo (or Shcherbo), born 13 January 1972 in Minsk, is arguably the greatest male gymnast of all time. Certainly he's the only one ever to have won a world title on all eight events, and at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics he won six of them - more golds than any other athlete there and more at a single Olympics than any other gymnast in history.

A little More Knowledge?
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Belarus in Profile

Belarus is flat (its highest point is Dzyarzhynsk Hill, at 345m...), green (40% is covered by forest) and landlocked. The country has been governed since 1994 by Alexander Lukashenko, who in his own words adopts 'an authoritarian ruling style' - Western powers have described the regime as a dictatorship. The Council of Europe barred the country from membership as long ago as 1997 for election irregularities, and since the last vote, in 2010, many opposition candidates have been arrested and imprisoned. Lukashenko pursues Soviet-style policies including state ownership of the economy; the country has strong ties with Russia and there has been talk of a political union between the two.

The territory of the modern state has been divided among neighbouring countries throughout most of history, although some regard the powerful 13th-15th century Grand Duchy of Lithuania as essentially a Belarusian state. The territory was devastated by World War II, losing about a third of its population - it was the last Soviet republic to be evacuated by the Germans, who destroyed 209 of its 290 cities, 85% of its industry and more than one million buildings.As if that weren't enough, about 70% of the radiation the 1986 Chernobyl disaster came across the border from Ukraine, and twenty years later about a fifth of Belarusian land continues to be affected by fallout. Yet despite its many problems, the country has the highest Human Development Index score of the ten former Soviet states included in the CIS.

Some Business and General Info

GDP: $141.8bn (2011 est.); per capita $15,028

Religions Orthodox 82%; Roman Catholic 15%.

Currency: Belarusian Ruble; 8,400 BYR = $US 1

Telephone Code: +375

Research Industry

No association that we're aware of. Stats to appear here soon.

Overview of Trade and Industry

A slight majority of Belarusians (51.2%) are employed by state-controlled companies, with textiles, wood processing and agriculture all major industries. In 1991 the country was one of the world's most industrially developed states by percentage of GDP, but like many post-Soviet economies it stumbled in the 1990s (Belarus endured a crisis in 1998-9) before growing steadily between 2001 and 2005, led by the industrial sector.

Like other economies, Belarus'has faced massive financial problems in recent years, but it is somewhat insular in terms of global trade and its crisis came later and went deeper than most. On 23 May 2011, the Belarusian Ruble depreciated 56% against the US dollar, with an even steeper fall on the unofficial exchange and many predicted financial collapse - indeed, a scramble for dollars and Euros, and widespread use of barter did follow, but with further financial deals with Russia helping, Belarus has thus far managed to avoid disaster.

The country relies on Russia for various imports, especially fuel supplies for which it gets a preferential rate. A massive 59.8% of 2008 imports of $39.2bn came from Russia. Exports were $33.0bn in 2008 with Russia taking nearly a third (32.2%), The Netherlands more than a sixth (16.9%) and Ukraine next with 8.5%. Belarus is famous for its tractors, and for its linen, both of which are key exports along with other heavy machinery and agricultural products.

My view
from...
Belarus
Researchers Talk!
Have your say!
If you are a researcher based in Belarus, in whatever capacity, then we would love to hear from you!

Email me:
laurence@mrweb.com

Views from...

If you've carried out market research in Belarus, we'd love to hear about it - get in touch!