A NOTE ON GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHY

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Republic of Belarus gained independence for the second time in the twentieth century. Belarus, which is situated to the west of the Russian Federation and borders on Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic States, is closely related to Russia in both language and culture, and continues to maintain strong political and economic ties with that country. Belarus is currently in difficult economic straits: In 1995, annual per capita GNP was US$2,070 and the average monthly income was below US$100.1 Most of the ten and a half million people living in Belarus work in the agricultural sector. Ethnically, Belarus is comprised of 77.9 percent Belarusians, 13.2 percent Russians, 4.1 percent Poles, 2.9 percent Ukrainians with other non-specified ethnicities making up the remaining 1.9 percent.2 The main urban centers are Minsk, Brest, Vitebsk, Gumilyov and Gomel. Belarus was the country that was worst of all affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.