Demographics of Belarus

Belarus: Population and rural population 1913-2008 (beginning of year). Source: official statistics from BelStat.

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 ethnic majority in Belarus call themselves Belarusians.

Demographic trends

The population of Belarus suffered a dramatic decline during World War II, dropping from more than 9 million in 1940 to 7.7 million in 1951. It then resumed its long-term growth, rising to 10 million in 1999.^[1] After that the population began a steady decline, dropping to 9.7 million in 2006-2007.^[2] Originally a highly agrarian country with nearly 80% of its population in rural areas, Belarus has been undergoing a process of continuous urbanization. The share of its rural population decreased from 70% in 1959 to less than 30% in the 2000s.^[3]

Population change in Belarus, 1970 - 2010^[4]

1970 - 1989		1970 - 2010		1999 - 2010

Ethnic groups

Belarusians 81.2%, Russians 11.4%, Poles 3.9%, Ukrainians 2.4%, Jews 0.3%, Armenians 0.1%, Lipka Tatars 0.1%, Ruska Roma 0.1%, Lithuanians 0.1%, Azeris 0.1%, others 0.3% (1999 census).^[1]

Prior to WW II

Prior to World War II, Jews were the second largest ethnic group in Belarus, and at 400,000 in the 1926 and 1939 censuses they even exceeded the number of Russians (although admittedly by a small margin).^[5] Jews accounted for 7%-8% of the total population at that time, comprising more than 40% of the population in cities and towns, where Jews and Poles were the majority, while Belarusians mostly lived in rural areas.

The Poles were the fourth largest ethnic group before World War II, comprising 1%-2% of the population in the pre-war censuses (less than 100,000).^[5]

Population of the Byelorussian SSR according to ethnic group 1926–1939

Ethnic group	census 19261		census 19392
	Number	%	Number	%
Belarusians	4,017,301	80.6	4,615,496	82.9
Jews	407,059	8.2	375,092	6.7
Russians	383,806	7.7	364,705	6.6
Ukrainians	34,681	0.7	104,247	1.9
Poles	97,498	2.0	58,380	1.1
Germans	7,075	0.1	8,448	0.2
Latvians	14,080	0.3	8,117	0.2
Tatars	3,777	0.1	7,664	0.1
Lithuanians	6,864	0.1	4,284	0.1
Roma	2,366	0.1	3,632	0.1
Mordvins	1,051	0.0	2,042	0.0
Others	7,682	0.2	16,887	0.3
Total	4,983,240		5,568,994
1 Source: [3]. 2 Source: [4].

After WW II

The Holocaust decimated the Jewish population in Belarus, and after World War II, in 1959, Jews accounted for only 1.9% of the population. Since then, Jewish emigration to Israel and other countries reduced the number of Jews to 0.1% of the population (13,000 in 2009).

After the war, a large number of Poles (including Catholic Belarusians) were forced to move to Poland. In exchange, Belarusians from the former Belastok Voblast, which was returned to Poland in 1945, after being occupied in 1939 were displaced to Belarus. Due to changes in the western border of Belarus and Poland after World War II (see territorial changes of Poland), the number of Poles in Belarus increased to more than 500,000 according to the first post-war census (1959) and to about 400,000 according to the 1999 census. Poles are now the third largest ethnic group in Belarus (see Polish minority in Belarus). There is around 15,000 of Lipka Tatars. Armenians and Ruska Roma (Russian Gypsies) account for about 10,000 each.

In the post-war period Belarus experienced an influx of workers from other parts of the Soviet Union, for example Russians and Ukrainians. The decade after independence saw a decline in the population of most of these minority groups, either by assimilation or emigration. The most significant exception to this trend has been a continued (if small-scale) net immigration of Armenians and Azeris, whose numbers increased from less than 2,000 in 1959 to around 10,000 in 1999.^[1]

Ethnic composition of Belarus according to 2009 census

Belarusian		Russians		Poles		Ukrainians

Population of Belarus according to ethnic group 1959-2009

Ethnic group	census 19591		census 19702		census 19793		census 19894		census 19995		census 20096
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Belarusians	6,532,035	81.1	7,289,610	81.0	7,567,955	79.4	7,904,623	77.9	8,158,900	81.2	7,957,252	83.7
Russians	659,093	8.2	938,161	10.4	1,134,117	11.9	1,342,099	13.2	1,141,700	11.4	785,084	8.3
Poles	538,881	6.7	382,600	4.3	403,169	4.2	417,720	4.1	395,700	3.9	294,549	3.1
Ukrainians	133,061	1.7	190,839	2.1	230,985	2.4	291,008	2.9	237,000	2.4	158,723	1.7
Jews	150,084	1.9	148,011	1.6	135,450	1.4	111,975	1.1	27,800	0.3	12,926	0.1
Armenians	1,751	0.0	2,362	0.0	2,751	0.0	4,933	0.1	10,200	0.1	8,512	0.1
Tatars	8,650	0.1	9,992	0.1	10,851	0.1	12,436	0.1	10,100	0.1	7,316	0.1
Romani	4,662	0.1	6,843	0.1	8,408	0.1	10,762	0.1	9,900	0.1	7,316	0.1
Azeri	1,402	0.0	1,335	0.0	2,654	0.0	5,009	0.1	6,300	0.1	5,567	0.1
Lithuanians	8,363	0.1	8,092	0.1	6,993	0.1	7,606	0.1	6,400	0.1	5,087	0.1
Others	16,666	0.2	24,493	0.3	29,183	0.3	43,635	0.4	41,200	0.4	261,712	2.8
Total	8,054,648		9,002,338		9,532,516		10,151,806		10,045,200		9,503,807
1 Source: [5]. 2 Source: [6]. 3 Source: [7]. 4 Source: [8]. 5 Source: [9]. 6 Source: [10].

Vital statistics since 1950 ^{[6] [7]}

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)
1950 (e)	7 745	197 500	62 000	135 500	25.5	8.0	17.5
1951 (e)	7 765	194 900	62 900	132 000	25.1	8.1	17.0
1952 (e)	7 721	195 300	61 800	133 500	25.3	8.0	17.3
1953 (e)	7 690	195 300	60 800	134 500	25.4	7.9	17.5
1954 (e)	7 722	195 400	61 000	134 400	25.3	7.9	17.4
1955 (e)	7 804	194 300	57 700	136 600	24.9	7.4	17.5
1956 (e)	7 880	199 400	54 400	145 000	25.3	6.9	18.4
1957 (e)	7 936	200 800	56 300	144 500	25.3	7.1	18.2
1958 (e)	8 009	207 400	52 100	155 300	25.9	6.5	19.4
1959 (e)	8 112	204 400	56 000	148 400	25.2	6.9	18.3
1960	8 190	200 218	54 037	146 181	24.4	6.6	17.8
1961	8 284	194 239	53 682	140 557	23.4	6.5	17.0
1962	8 385	185 302	60 676	124 626	22.1	7.2	14.9
1963	8 458	173 889	58 291	115 598	20.6	6.9	13.7
1964	8 519	161 794	53 967	107 827	19.0	6.3	12.7
1965	8 607	153 865	58 156	95 709	17.9	6.8	11.1
1966	8 709	153 414	58 265	95 149	17.6	6.7	10.9
1967	8 800	147 501	61 263	86 238	16.8	7.0	9.8
1968	8 877	146 095	62 354	83 741	16.5	7.0	9.4
1969	8 957	142 652	65 912	76 740	15.9	7.4	8.6
1970	9 038	146 676	68 974	77 702	16.2	7.6	8.6
1971	9 112	149 135	68 511	80 624	16.4	7.5	8.8
1972	9 178	147 813	71 866	75 947	16.1	7.8	8.3
1973	9 245	144 729	73 927	70 802	15.7	8.0	7.7
1974	9 312	146 876	73 181	73 695	15.8	7.9	7.9
1975	9 367	146 517	79 701	66 816	15.6	8.5	7.1
1976	9 411	147 912	82 400	65 512	15.7	8.8	7.0
1977	9 463	148 963	84 565	64 398	15.7	8.9	6.8
1978	9 525	151 053	86 612	64 441	15.9	9.1	6.8
1979	9 590	151 800	90 837	60 963	15.8	9.5	6.4
1980	9 658	154 432	95 514	58 918	16.0	9.9	6.1
1981	9 732	157 899	93 136	64 763	16.2	9.6	6.7
1982	9 804	159 364	93 840	65 524	16.3	9.6	6.7
1983	9 872	173 510	97 849	75 661	17.6	9.9	7.7
1984	9 938	168 749	104 274	64 475	17.0	10.5	6.5
1985	9 999	165 034	105 690	59 344	16.5	10.6	5.9
1986	10 058	171 611	97 276	74 335	17.1	9.7	7.4
1987	10 111	162 937	99 921	63 016	16.1	9.9	6.2
1988	10 144	163 193	102 671	60 522	16.1	10.1	6.0
1989	10 171	153 449	103 479	49 970	15.1	10.2	4.9
1990	10 190	142 167	109 582	32 585	14.0	10.8	3.2
1991	10 194	132 045	114 650	17 395	13.0	11.2	1.7
1992	10 217	127 971	116 674	11 297	12.5	11.4	1.1
1993	10 240	117 384	128 544	-11 160	11.5	12.6	-1.1
1994	10 227	110 599	130 003	-19 404	10.8	12.7	-1.9
1995	10 194	101 144	133 775	-32 631	9.9	13.1	-3.2
1996	10 160	95 798	133 422	-37 624	9.4	13.1	-3.7
1997	10 118	89 586	136 653	-47 067	8.9	13.5	-4.7
1998	10 069	92 645	137 296	-44 651	9.2	13.6	-4.4
1999	10 032	92 975	142 027	-49 052	9.3	14.2	-4.9
2000	10 005	93 691	134 867	-41 176	9.4	13.5	-4.1
2001	9 971	91 720	140 299	-48 579	9.2	14.1	-4.9
2002	9 925	88 743	146 665	-57 922	8.9	14.8	-5.8
2003	9 874	88 512	143 200	-54 688	9.0	14.5	-5.5
2004	9 825	88 943	140 064	-51 121	9.1	14.3	-5.2
2005	9 775	90 508	141 857	-51 349	9.3	14.5	-5.3
2006	9 732	96 721	138 426	-41 705	9.9	14.2	-4.3
2007	9 702	103 626	132 993	-29 367	10.7	13.7	-3.0
2008	9 592	107 876	133 879	-26 003	11.2	14.0	-2.7
2009	9 487	109 813	135 056	-25 243	11.6	14.2	-2.7
2010	9 481	108 123	137 305	-29 182	11.4	14.5	-3.1

(e)=estimate

Languages

Main article: Languages of Belarus

Belarusian and Russian are the official languages according to the Constitution of Belarus (Article 17). The constitution guarantees preservation of the cultural heritage of all ethnic minorities, including their languages (Article 15). Russian, and not Belarusian, is the dominant language in Belarus, spoken normally at home by 63% of the population (1999 census).

Languages of Belarus according to 2009 census (green - Belarusian, blue - Russian)

Native languages		Spoken languages

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

Population pyramid of Belarus

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless indicated otherwise.

Population

9,648,533 (July 2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 87

Age structure

0-14 years: 14.3% (male 707,550/female 667,560)

15-64 years: 71.3% (male 3,337,253/female 3,540,916)

65 years and over: 14.5% (male 446,746/female 948,508) (2009 est.)

Median age

Total: 38.6 years

Male: 35.6 years

Female: 41.6 years (2009 est.)

Population growth rate

-0.378% (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 225

Net migration rate

0.38 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 68

Urbanization

Urban population: 73% of total population (2008)

Rate of urbanization: 0% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Sex ratio

At birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

Under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.47 male(s)/female

Total population: 0.87 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate

Total: 6.43 deaths/1,000 live births

country comparison to the world: 177

Male: 7.45 deaths/1,000 live births

Female: 5.36 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total population: 70.63 years

country comparison to the world: 141

Male: 64.95 years

Female: 76.67 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate

1.24 children born/woman (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 214

HIV/AIDS

Adult prevalence rate: 0.2% (2007 est.)

country comparison to the world: 104

People living with HIV/AIDS: 13,000 (2007 est.)

country comparison to the world: 91

Deaths: 1,100 (2007 est.)

country comparison to the world: 69

Nationality

Noun: Belarusian(s)

Adjective: Belarusian

Religions

According to 1997 estimates, 80% of the religious population belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church and the others are mainly Roman Catholic, Protestants, Muslims, and Jews.^[8]

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over who can read and write

Total population: 99.6%

Male: 99.8%

Female: 99.5% (2003 est.)

Education expenditure

6.1% of GDP (2006)

country comparison to the world: 39

See also

• List of cities in Belarus

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Ethnic composition of the population, 1999 Belarus Census.
2. ^ Population estimates 1995-2007, BelStat
3. ^ Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Belarus 2007, BelStat, Minsk, 2007
4. ^ http://pop-stat.mashke.org/belarus-division.htm
5. ^ ^{a b} Ethnic composition of Belarus: 1926 and 1939 censuses
6. ^ [1] United Nations. Demographic Yearbooks
7. ^ [2] National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus
8. ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bo.html

 This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2009 edition".