Country · Europe
Belarus
Republic of Belarus
Belarus is a country in Eastern Europe. About 9.5 million people live there, in an area of 207 600 square kilometres. Its capital city is Minsk.
Picture credit: Ainars Brūvelis (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Ilya (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Zelyoniy.anton (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Zedlik (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Homoatrox (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Belarus?
Belarus lies in Eastern Europe, on the continent of Europe.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 5 900 km from the equator.
Belarus is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 5 countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Ukraine.
How big is Belarus?
Belarus covers 207 600 square kilometres.
That is about 5 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 84th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 45.7 people on every square kilometre.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Belarus?
About 9.5 million people live in Belarus.
That is the 94th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Belarusian and Russian.
They pay with the Belarusian ruble (Br).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 68 years.
The land of Belarus
The land of Belarus sits on average 160 metres above sea level, which makes it one of the flatter countries on Earth.
Because it is landlocked, anything that comes by ship has to cross one of its 5 neighbours to get here.
It lies between the tropics and the poles, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Belarus different?
A dish the country is known for: Draniki.
Websites from here often end in .by.
Belarus and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about one lives in Belarus.
It takes up about 0.16 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Europe the country ranks 13th of 45 by size, and 17th by population.
Belarus and its neighbours
Russia, its largest neighbour, is about 82.4 times bigger.
Russia has more people: 144.5 million against 9.5 million.
Nature and animals
The highest mountain in the country is Dzyarzhynskaya Hara, at 345 metres. The longest river in the country is the Dnieper. The largest lake in the country is Lake Narach.
Where this country lands in the record lists
How big is Belarus compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 45 times as big as Belarus: 9 372 610 km² against 207 600 km².
- The United Kingdom is about 1.2 times as big as Belarus: 242 900 km² against 207 600 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Belarus?
The capital of Belarus is Minsk. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Belarus?
About 9.5 million people live in Belarus, which makes it the 94th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Belarus?
How big is Belarus?
Belarus covers 207 600 square kilometres, making it the 84th largest country in the world. That is about 5 times the size of Switzerland.
What is the highest mountain in Belarus?
The highest mountain in Belarus is Dzyarzhynskaya Hara, 345 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the longest river in Belarus?
The longest river in Belarus is the Dnieper. Of its 2 201 kilometres, about 700 run through the country.
What is the largest lake in Belarus?
The largest lake in Belarus is Lake Narach. It covers about 80 km².
Which continent is Belarus in?
Belarus is in Europe, in the part called Eastern Europe.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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