Defense expenditures:
exchange rate conversion - $10 million, 0.7% of GDP (1989)
:Bassas da India Geography
Total area:
NA
Land area:
undetermined
Comparative area:
undetermined
Land boundaries:
none
Coastline:
35.2 km
Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone:
12 nm
Continental shelf:
200 m (depth) or to depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
Territorial sea:
12 nm
Disputes:
claimed by Madagascar
Climate:
tropical
Terrain:
a volcanic rock 2.4 m high
Natural resources:
none
Land use:
arable land 0%; permanent crops 0%; meadows and pastures 0%; forest and
woodland 0%; other (rock) 100%
Environment:
surrounded by reefs; subject to periodic cyclones
Note:
navigational hazard since it is usually under water during high tide;
located in southern Mozambique Channel about halfway between Africa and
Madagascar
:Bassas da India People
Population: uninhabited
:Bassas da India Government
Long-form name:
none
Type:
French possession administered by Commissioner of the Republic Jacques
DEWATRE (since July 1991), resident in Reunion
Capital:
none; administered by France from Reunion
:Bassas da India Economy
Overview: no economic activity
:Bassas da India Communications
Ports: none; offshore anchorage only
:Bassas da India Defense Forces
Note: defense is the responsibility of France
:Belarus Geography
Total area:
207,600 km2
Land area:
207,600 km2
Comparative area:
slightly smaller than Kansas
Land boundaries:
3,098 km total; Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 605 km, Russia 959
km, Ukraine 891 km
Coastline:
none - landlocked
Maritime claims:
none - landlocked
Disputes:
none
Climate:
mild and moist; transitional between continental and maritime
Terrain:
generally flat and contains much marshland
Natural resources:
forest land and peat deposits
Land use:
arable land NA%; permanent crops NA%; meadows and pastures NA%; forest and
woodland NA%; other NA%; includes irrigated NA%
Environment:
southern part of Belarus
highly contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at
Chernobyl'
Note:
landlocked
:Belarus People
Population:
10,373,881 (July 1992), growth rate 0.5% (1992)
Birth rate:
15 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate:
11 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Net migration rate:
1 migrant/1,000 population (1992)
Infant mortality rate:
20 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth:
66 years male, 76 years female (1992)
Total fertility rate:
2.1 children born/woman (1992)
Nationality:
noun - Belarusian(s); adjective - Belarusian
Ethnic divisions:
Byelorussian 77.9%, Russian 13.2%, Poles 4.1%, Ukrainian 2.9%, Jews 1.1%,
other 0.8%
Religions:
Russian Orthodox NA%, unknown NA%, none NA%, other NA%
Languages:
Byelorussian NA%, Russian NA%, other NA%
Literacy:
NA% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can read and write
Labor force:
5,418,000; industry and construction 42%, agriculture and forestry 20%,
other 38% (1990)
Organized labor:
NA
:Belarus Government
Long-form name:
Republic of Belarus
Type:
republic
Capital:
Mensk
Administrative divisions:
6 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast'); Brest, Gomel', Grodno, Minsk,
Mogilev, Vitebsk; note - all oblasts have the same name as their
administrative center
Independence:
1 January 1919 Belorussian Republic; 30 December 1922 joined with the USSR;
25 August 1991 redeclared independence
Constitution:
adopted April 1978
Legal system:
based on civil law system
National holiday:
24 August (1991)
Executive branch:
NA
Legislative branch:
unicameral with 360 seats
Judicial branch:
NA
Leaders:
Chief of State:
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Stanislav S. SHUSHKEVICH (since NA 1991)
Head of Government: