Population
The population of Belarus is 9.689 million people, as of January 2008.
The demographic situation in the country is on the up. In 2007 the birth rate rose 7.3 % to 103 thousand babies, and the death rate fell 4 % to 103 thousand.
Belarus is 5th among the CIS countries in terms of population, next to Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The country's population is 14 times smaller than in Russia, 5 times smaller than in Ukraine, but 1.3 times as big as that of three Baltic states of the ex-USSR together, 2 times bigger than in Finland or Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria or Sweden.
Over 24 per cent of the urban population resides in the Belarusian capital.
Belarus is a comparatively densely populated country. The average population density is 47 persons per sq km. The territory of Belarus is inhabited rather uniformly, most densely in central regions.
According to the UN Population Fund’s “State of World Population 2007” report, Belarus has the best indicator of infant mortality among the CIS countries, total of 14 per 1,000 live births. Ukraine – 15, Russia – 16, Moldova – 23, Armenia – 29, Georgia – 39 and shares the first place with Russia among the CIS countries in terms of urban population – 73 %.
Belarus is a multiethnic and polyconfessional state in which over 130 nationalities reside with Belarusians (81.2 per cent of the total population).
