Demographics of Belarus

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.

Demographics of Belarus
Population	9,408,400
Age structure
0–14 years	15.4% (male 759,285/female 717,118)
15–64 years	70.4% (male 3,279,965/female 3,487,819)
65 and over	14.2% (male 430,225/female 933,646) (2014 est.)
Sex ratio
Total	0.87 male(s)/female (2014 est.)
At birth	1.06 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.06 male(s)/female
15–64 years	0.94 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.46 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	noun: Belarusian(s) adjective: Belarusian
Major ethnic	Belarusians
Language
Spoken	Belarusian, Russian

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

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1897	6,673,000	—
1914	6,899,100	+3.4%
1926	4,983,240	−27.8%
1939	5,568,994	+11.8%
1951	7,781,100	+39.7%
1959	8,055,700	+3.5%
1970	8,992,200	+11.6%
1979	9,532,500	+6.0%
1989	10,151,800	+6.5%
1999	10,045,200	−1.1%
2009	9,503,800	−5.4%
2019	9,413,446	−1.0%
Source:[1]

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.[2] After that the population began a steady decline, dropping to 9.7 million in 2006–2007.[3] 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.[4]

Population

9,491,800 (January 2018 est.)[5]

country comparison to the world:'’ 92 [6]

Age structure

Population pyramid of Belarus

0–14 years: 15.4% (male 759,285/female 717,118)

15–24 years: 11.7% (male 575,907/female 544,170)

25–54 years: 45.5% (male 2,141,419/female 2,227,433)

55–64 years: 13.3% (male 562,639/female 716,216)

65 years and over: 14.2% (male 430,225/female 933,646) (2014 est.)

Median age

Total: 39.4 years

Male: 36.3 years

Female: 42.4 years (2014 est.)

Sex ratio

At birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

0–14 years: 1.06 male(s)/female

15–24 years: 1.06 male(s)/female

25–54 years: 0.96 male(s)/female

55–64 years: 0.87 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.46 male(s)/female

Total population: 0.87 male(s)/female (2014 est.)

Population change in Belarus, 1970 – 2010[7]

1970–1989		1970–2010		1999–2010

Vital statistics

Belarusian provinces of the Russian Empire

The figures below refer to the five governorates of the Russian Empire (Grodno, Vitebsk, Minsk, Mogilev, Vilna) with a Belarusian majority.[8]

	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)
1900	9,009,000	393,612	222,350	171,262	43.7	24.7	19.0
1901	9,176,000	386,064	235,223	150,841	42.1	25.6	16.4
1902	9,328,000	408,209	220,421	187,788	43.8	23.6	20.1
1903	9,512,000	372,206	236,846	135,360	39.1	24.9	14.2
1904	9,676,000	387,501	236,530	150,971	40.0	24.4	15.6
1905	9,828,000	372,119	239,956	132,163	37.9	24.4	13.4
1906	10,004,000	381,101	210,556	170,545	38.1	21.0	17.0
1907	10,152,000	380,932	193,273	187,659	37.5	19.0	18.5
1908	10,373,000	363,095	204,611	158,484	35.0	19.7	15.3
1909	10,561,000	382,501	209,211	173,290	36.2	19.8	16.4
1910	10,725,000	371,091	224,884	146,207	34.6	21.0	13.6
1911	10,858,000	380,034	202,405	177,629	35.0	18.6	16.4
1912	11,072,000	387,594	188,434	199,160	35.0	17.0	18.0
1913	11,283,000	372,229	202,323	169,906	33.0	17.9	15.1
1914	11,587,000	384,682	210,515	174,167	33.2	18.2	15.0

After WW II [9][10]

	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rate	Abortions. reported
1950	7,745,000	197,200	62,000	135,200	25.5	8.0	17.5
1951	7,765,000	198,200	61,200	137,000	25.5	7.9	17.6
1952	7,721,000	191,100	64,200	126,900	24.8	8.3	16.4
1953	7,690,000	176,200	61,900	114,300	22.9	8.0	14.9
1954	7,722,000	193,100	61,600	131,500	25.0	8.0	17.0
1955	7,804,000	194,400	58,000	136,400	24.9	7.4	17.5
1956	7,880,000	199,500	56,000	143,500	25.3	7.1	18.2
1957	7,936,000	200,800	58,000	142,800	25.3	7.3	18.0
1958	8,009,000	207,700	53,700	154,000	25.9	6.7	19.2
1959	8,112,000	204,600	62,600	142,000	25.2	7.7	17.5	2.72
1960	8,190,000	200,218	54,037	146,181	24.4	6.6	17.8	2.69	170,787
1961	8,284,000	194,239	53,682	140,557	23.4	6.5	17.0	2.66	178,290
1962	8,385,000	185,302	60,676	124,626	22.1	7.2	14.9	2.57	185,554
1963	8,458,000	173,889	58,291	115,598	20.6	6.9	13.7	2.46	191,137
1964	8,519,000	161,794	53,967	107,827	19.0	6.3	12.7	2.36	200,534
1965	8,607,000	153,865	58,156	95,709	17.9	6.8	11.1	2.27	205,999
1966	8,709,000	153,414	58,265	95,149	17.6	6.7	10.9	2.28	203,430
1967	8,800,000	147,501	61,263	86,238	16.8	7.0	9.8	2.26	203,722
1968	8,877,000	146,095	62,354	83,741	16.5	7.0	9.4	2.23	198,955
1969	8,957,000	142,652	65,912	76,740	15.9	7.4	8.6	2.18	191,637
1970	9,038,000	146,676	68,974	77,702	16.2	7.6	8.6	2.30	187,935
1971	9,112,000	149,135	68,511	80,624	16.4	7.5	8.8	2.34	190,169
1972	9,178,000	147,813	71,866	75,947	16.1	7.8	8.3	2.36	185,101
1973	9,245,000	144,729	73,927	70,802	15.7	8.0	7.7	2.29	193,503
1974	9,312,000	146,876	73,181	73,695	15.8	7.9	7.9	2.24	194,247
1975	9,367,000	146,517	79,701	66,816	15.6	8.5	7.1	2.20	194,710
1976	9,411,000	147,912	82,400	65,512	15.7	8.8	7.0	2.16	199,121
1977	9,463,000	148,963	84,565	64,398	15.7	8.9	6.8	2.11	202,146
1978	9,525,000	151,053	86,612	64,441	15.9	9.1	6.8	2.08	201,619
1979	9,590,000	151,800	90,837	60,963	15.8	9.5	6.4	2.05	203,446
1980	9,658,000	154,432	95,514	58,918	16.0	9.9	6.1	2.04	201,852
1981	9,732,000	157,899	93,136	64,763	16.2	9.6	6.7	2.08	202,340
1982	9,804,000	159,364	93,840	65,524	16.3	9.6	6.7	2.02	198,011
1983	9,872,000	173,510	97,849	75,661	17.6	9.9	7.7	2.09	207,461
1984	9,938,000	168,749	104,274	64,475	17.0	10.5	6.5	2.14	210,844
1985	9,999,000	165,034	105,690	59,344	16.6	10.6	5.9	2.09	200,888
1986	10,058,000	171,611	97,276	74,335	17.1	9.7	7.4	2.10	171,114
1987	10,111,000	162,937	99,921	63,016	16.2	9.9	6.2	2.04	163,761
1988	10,144,000	163,193	102,671	60,522	16.1	10.1	6.0	2.03	140,921
1989	10,171,000	153,449	103,479	49,970	15.1	10.2	4.9	2.02	256,041
1990	10,190,000	142,167	109,582	32,585	14.0	10.8	3.2	1.91	260,839
1991	10,194,000	132,045	114,650	17,395	13.0	11.2	1.7	1.80	241,138
1992	10,217,000	127,971	116,674	11,297	12.5	11.4	1.1	1.76	240,387
1993	10,240,000	117,384	128,544	-11,160	11.5	12.6	-1.1	1.62	217,957
1994	10,227,000	110,599	130,003	-19,404	10.8	12.7	-1.9	1.53	212,533
1995	10,194,000	101,144	133,775	-32,631	9.9	13.1	-3.2	1.40	193,280
1996	10,160,000	95,798	133,422	-37,624	9.4	13.1	-3.7	1.33	174,098
1997	10,118,000	89,586	136,653	-47,067	8.9	13.5	-4.7	1.25	152,660
1998	10,069,000	92,645	137,296	-44,651	9.2	13.6	-4.4	1.30	145,339
1999	10,032,000	92,975	142,027	-49,052	9.3	14.2	-4.9	1.31	135,829
2000	9,988,000	93,691	134,867	-41,176	9.4	13.5	-4.1	1.31	121,895
2001	9,929,000	91,720	140,299	-48,579	9.2	14.1	-4.9	1.28	101,402
2002	9,866,000	88,743	146,665	-57,922	9.0	14.9	-5.9	1.24	89,895
2003	9,797,000	88,512	143,200	-54,688	9.0	14.6	-5.6	1.23	80,174
2004	9,730,000	88,943	140,064	-51,121	9.1	14.4	-5.3	1.23	71,700
2005	9,664,000	90,508	141,857	-51,349	9.4	14.7	-5.3	1.25	64,655
2006	9,605,000	96,721	138,426	-41,705	10.1	14.4	-4.3	1.33	58,516
2007	9,561,000	103,626	132,993	-29,367	10.8	13.9	-3.1	1.42	46,287
2008	9,528,000	107,876	133,879	-26,003	11.3	14.1	-2.7	1.48	42,197
2009	9,507,000	109,263	135,056	-25,793	11.5	14.2	-2.7	1.50	35,967
2010	9,491,000	108,050	137,305	-29,255	11.4	14.5	-3.1	1.49	27,662
2011	9,473,000	109,147	135,099	-25,952	11.5	14.3	-2.7	1.51	26,858
2012	9,464,000	115,893	126,531	-10,638	12.2	13.4	-1.2	1.62
2013	9,468,000	117,997	125,326	-7,329	12.5	13.2	-0.7	1.67
2014	9,469,000	118,534	121,542	-3,008	12.5	12.8	-0.3	1.69
2015[11]	9,480,000	119,028	120,026	-998	12.6	12.7	-0.1	1.72
2016	9,498,000	117,779	119,379	-1,600	12.4	12.6	-0.2	1.73
2017	9,498,000	102,356	119,051	-16,695	10.8	12.5	-1.8	1.54
2018	9,475,000	94,388	119,931	-25,543	9.9	12.7	-2.8	1.46
2019	9,452,000	87,851	120,917	-33,066	9.3	12.8	-3.5	1.40

Infant mortality rate

Total: 4.0 deaths/1,000 live births for 429 death. (2010)

Total: 3.9 deaths/1,000 live births for 422 death. (2011)

Total: 3.4 deaths/1,000 live births for 386 death. (2012)

Total: 3.5 deaths/1,000 live births for 407 death. (2013)

Total: 3.5 deaths/1,000 live births for 415 death. (2014)

Total: 3.5 deaths/1,000 live births for 321 death. (January–September 2014)

Total: 3.2 deaths/1,000 live births for 283 death. (January–September 2015)

Total fertility rate (TFR) in Belarus by region and year

Region	2017	2016	2015	2010	2005
Belarus (total)	1.54	1.73	1.72	1.49	1.25
Minsk	1.06	1.21	1.24	1.25	1.08
Vitebsk Oblast	1.45	1.63	1.62	1.42	1.19
Mogilev Oblast	1.65	1.85	1.83	1.49	1.25
Gomel Oblast	1.72	1.93	1.89	1.55	1.28
Grodno Oblast	1.75	2.03	1.96	1.63	1.30
Brest Oblast	1.89	2.10	2.06	1.73	1.45
Minsk Oblast	1.94	2.16	2.18	1.72	1.37

[12]

Life expectancy at birth

Average life expectancy at birth in Belarus (2018)

Total population: 72.15 years

country comparison to the world: 138

Male: 66.53 years

Female: 78.1 years (2014 est.)

Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	60.71
1955–1960	66.32
1960–1965	69.11
1965–1970	70.37
1970–1975	70.51
1975–1980	70.41
1980–1985	70.14
1985–1990	71.35
1990–1995	69.44
1995–2000	67.42
2000–2005	67.83
2005–2010	69.25
2010–2015	72.15

Demographic situation in 2015

Top 10 cities with the highest birth rate	2014[13]
Drybin	20.7
Brahin	19.9
Chachersk	19.3
Lahoysk	19.0
Logishin	18.0
Karma	17.4
Ivanava	17.3
Zhytkavichy	17.0
Obol	16.8
Slawharad	16.7
Zaslawye	16.5
Top 10 cities with the lowest birth rate	2015
Zarecha	4.8
Yanovichi	4.9
Vidzy	5.3
Horodyszcze	6.2
Damachava	6.5
Osveya	6.6
Lubcha	7.2
Vetrino	7.3
Kamaryn	7.4
Azarychy	8.1

Natural increase current

[14]

Births:

• January–March 2019 = 21,519
• January–March 2020 = 20,180

Deaths:

• January–March 2019 = 32,229
• January–March 2020 = 31,039

Natural increase:

• January–March 2019 = -10,710
• January–March 2020 = -10,859

Ethnic groups

Belarusians 84.9%, Russians 7.5%, Poles 3.1%, Ukrainians 1.7%, Jews 0.1%, Armenians 0.1%, Lipka Tatars 0.1%, Ruska Roma 0.1%, Lithuanians 0.1%, Azerbaijanis 0.1%, others 2.2% (2019 census).

Prior to the Second World War

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).[15] 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 in Belarussian SSR (current Eastern portion of Belarus), before World War II, comprising 1–2% of the population in the pre-war censuses (less than 100,000).[15]

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

Ethnic group	census 1926^1		census 1939^2
	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
Poles	97,498	2.0	58,380	1.1
Ukrainians	34,681	0.7	104,247	1.9
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: . ^2 Source: .

After the Second World War

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).

Polish minority districts in 1960:

  Over 50% Polish

  40-50%

  30-40%

  10-30%

  Up to 10% Polish

  Border of Poland in 1939

After the war, a large number of Poles 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 are around 15,000 of Lipka Tatars and about 10,000 of Ruska Roma (Russian Gypsies).

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.[2]

Ethnic composition of Belarus according to 2019 census

Belarusian		Russians		Poles		Ukrainians

Ethnic composition of Belarus according to 2009 census

Belarusian		Russians		Poles		Ukrainians

Population of Belarus according to ethnic group 1959–2019

Ethnic group	census 1959^1		census 1970^2		census 1979^3		census 1989^4		census 1999^5		census 2009^6		census 2019^7
	Number	%	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	7,990,719	84.9
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	706,992	7.5
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	287,693	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	159,656	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	13,705	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	9,392	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	8,445	0.1
Romani	4,662	0.1	6,843	0.1	8,408	0.1	10,762	0.1	9,900	0.1	7,079	0.1	6,848	0.1
Azerbaijanis	1,402	0.0	1,335	0.0	2,654	0.0	5,009	0.1	6,300	0.1	5,567	0.1	6,001	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	5,287	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	218,708	2.3
Total	8,054,648		9,002,338		9,532,516		10,151,806		10,045,200		9,503,807		9,413,446
^1 Source: . ^2 Source: . ^3 Source: . ^4 Source: . ^5 Source: . ^6 Source: . ^7 Source: .

Languages

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 70% of the population (2009 census), and major cities such as Minsk and Brest are overwhelmingly Russian-speaking.

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

Native languages		Spoken languages

Religion

According to 1997 estimates, 80% of the religious population belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church and the others are mainly Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, Protestants, Muslims, and Jews.[16]

Urbanization

Urban population: 75% of total population (2011)

Rate of urbanization: 0.21% annual rate of change (2010–2015 est.)

See also

• List of cities in Belarus
• Belarus Census (disambiguation)

References

1. "BELARUS: historical demographical data of the whole country". Populstat. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
2. Ethnic composition of the population Archived February 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, 1999 Belarus Census.
3. Population estimates 1995–2007 Archived 2008-12-03 at the Wayback Machine, BelStat
4. Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Belarus 2007, BelStat, Minsk, 2007
5. "Population on January 1, 2018 by regions of the Republic of Belarus" (in Russian). Белстат. 2018.
6. "Belarus ranks 6th in population the CIS countries" (in Russian). БЕЛТА. 2018-07-06.
7. "Division of Belarus". pop-stat.mashke.org.
8. "Статистический ежегодник Российской Империи (Издание ЦСК ) - Проект "Исторические Материалы"". istmat.info.
9. United Nations. Demographic Yearbooks
10. Archived 2011-04-03 at the Wayback Machine National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus
12. "Demographic Data". demdata.belstat.gov.by. 2016. Retrieved 2018-06-23.
13. "Дрибин, Брагин и Чечерск обставили Минск по рождаемости" [Drybin, Brahin and Chachersk overpassed Minsk in birth rate] (in Russian). Euroradio.
14. http://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/publications/izdania/public_bulletin/index_14019/
15. "Приложение Демоскопа Weekly". demoscope.ru.
16. "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov.

External links

• Lukashenka wants to double Belarus population: will that work? Belarus Digest