What peoples inhabit Belarus. Ethnolinguistic composition of the population of Belarus. Higher secondary and basic

Population of Belarus is a community of people permanently residing on the territory of the Republic. Close in meaning to the concept of “population of Belarus” are “people of Belarus” and “Belarusian nation” (not to be confused with nationality).

If we immediately try to give a short, general description of the population of the Republic of Belarus, we can say the following: the Belarusian nation is aging, with a high number of pensioners and a low birth rate, relatively educated, living mostly in cities, and less than half employed in the sphere of material production. According to these relative characteristics, the inhabitants of Belarus differ little from the population of neighboring countries.

In Belarus, almost 100% literacy of the population over 10 years of age is ensured. About 18% of citizens have higher education, another 26% have specialized secondary education.

The last population census in the Republic took place in 2010. It became the starting point for further statistical research. Earlier data was based largely on Soviet-era census results and operational information. However, for the analysis and forecast of social changes, what is more important is not absolute accuracy (even government sources often produce inconsistent data), but an understanding of general trends.

The largest regions of Belarus by population in 2019 are:

Population by region and Minsk city (at the beginning of the year; thousand people)

Republic of Belarus
Regions and Minsk:
Brest
Vitebsk
Gomel
Grodno
Mogilevskaya

There are various approaches and methods for studying and classifying populations. Probably the most informative and adequate to the current state of affairs will be an analysis of the structure of society in connection with the economic situation. Of course, citizens of the Republic of Belarus have their own cultural characteristics, religious affiliation, political views, tastes, etc. However, economic aspects still determine the behavior of modern Belarusians in the outside world. For the majority, the organizing principle remains enterprises and workplaces.

Based on this, let us consider, first of all, the gender and age structure of society and its changes. Here, the ratio of workers and dependents, currently and in the future, seems especially important. As a result, it will be possible to assess the ability to work and the degree of economic independence of society.

Over the past half century, one could observe the following dynamics of changes in the demographic situation:

Number and natural population growth: (at the beginning of the year; thousand people)

Population
including:
Total age:
younger than able-bodied (0-15)
able-bodied
older than able-bodied
Share in the total population, percent
urban
rural
Natural increase, decrease (-) of population, thousand people

1) Until 2017, the working-age population included men aged 16-59 years and women aged 16-54 years. Starting from the beginning of 2018, the working-age population includes men and women aged 16 years to the generally established retirement age.

Statistical data on the distribution of urban and rural populations looks like this:

Urban and rural population by region and Minsk city (at the beginning of the year; thousand people)

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Urban population
Republic of Belarus
Regions and Minsk:
Brest
Vitebsk
Gomel
Grodno
Mogilevskaya
Rural population
Republic of Belarus
Regions and Minsk:
Brest
Vitebsk
Gomel
Grodno
Mogilevskaya

It follows from this that in 2019 there was a slight overall decrease in the population of Belarus compared to 2015 by 5.7 thousand people or 0.47%.

Three important social trends are clearly visible in the statistics presented.

Over the past decades, the population has been moving from rural areas to cities; the birth rate decreased; mortality increased. This combination of fertility and mortality in the absence of wars and other disasters means an increase in the number of elderly people in the total population. This, in turn, leads to the aging of the nation and gives rise to new problems, in particular.

One of these problems is increasingly being identified as the increase in the number of pensioners relative to the number of workers.

Based on research in different countries, several coefficients have been derived to characterize the demographic situation from the point of view of society’s provision of labor resources:

• Child load (replacement) coefficient is the ratio of the number of young people to the number of people currently able to work. In modern Belarus the coefficient is about 28%;
• The pension burden ratio is the ratio of the number of pensioners and workers. Now in the Republic there are 61 pensioners per 100 workers.

The last two ratios make the economic forecast very gloomy. Obviously, every year some of the workers will become pensioners. However, there will be no one to take their place in the economic system.

Thus, the issue of increase will have to be considered not from the point of view of social justice, but as an inevitable result of the demographic trends of recent decades.

Another important characteristic of the social system is the distribution of income among population groups and regions of the country. The capital is significantly ahead of the province in terms of welfare. The regions differ little from each other. A general pattern can be considered a slight decrease in income as the number of residents in a locality decreases.

It is impossible not to mention that the real incomes of citizens can significantly exceed the declared ones. There are several reasons for this, one of which is a significant (but not precisely defined) number of our compatriots working abroad, as a rule, without the required registration.

The next most important classifier for the economic system will be the distribution of the working population by type of economic activity. According to the National Statistics Committee, the situation can be presented as follows:

Number of employed people by type of economic activity (as a percentage of the total)

Employed in the economy - total
including:
agriculture, forestry and fisheries
industry
mining industry
manufacturing industry
supply of electricity, gas, steam, hot water and air conditioned
water supply; collection, processing and disposal of waste, pollution control activities
construction
wholesale and retail trade; car repair and motorcycles
transport activities, warehousing, postal and courier activities
temporary accommodation and food services
information and communication

It is obvious that only the first three categories listed in the table are involved in the production of material goods. Almost the entire export potential of the country is concentrated in these same industries. Looking at the situation from this point of view, we can come to the conclusion that 42% of the economically active population or a little over one and a half million workers “feed” the republic of nine million. Such a ratio would be acceptable for a state with high labor productivity, or a powerful financial sector, or reserves of highly liquid natural resources.

However, for modern Belarus the current situation is close to critical.

From November 5 to November 30, 2018, the first stage of the population census of the Republic of Belarus of the 2020 round will be held in the republic in order to compile lists of houses and premises in them in cities, towns and large rural settlements. Employees of organizations operating the housing stock and (or) providing housing and communal services are involved as registrars. Thus, in the Gomel region 187 people were involved, in Minsk - 181, in Brest - 164, in Vitebsk - 158, in Mogilev - 151, in Grodno - 116, in Minsk - 44 people. Registrars will survey all buildings, both active and under construction, in which the population lives or may live at the time of the population census in October 2019, as well as non-residential buildings occupied by organizations.

The Republic of Belarus in terms of population ranks 92nd place in the world, 17th place among European countries,
6th place among CIS countries. Population of the Republic of Belarus (as of January 1; thousand people)

At the beginning of 2016, there were 5 million 77 thousand women and 4 million 421 thousand men living in the republic.

There were 1,149 women per 1,000 men, including 1,167 women in urban areas and 1,086 women in rural areas.

The population of the republic has increased over the past 5 years for 3.5 years and compiled in 2015 73.9 years.

Life expectancy
the entire population		urban population		rural population

Distribution of population across the territory of Belarus
(at the beginning of 2016; thousand people)

The largest city in terms of population is Minsk, with 1 million 960 thousand people living there, or every fifth resident of the republic (20.6%).

Among the regions, the Gomel region is the most populated, where almost every seventh resident of the country lives.

Three quarters of the population of Belarus are city dwellers.

The global trend of urbanization is also characteristic of modern Belarus. Three quarters of the population of Belarus are city dwellers. At the beginning of this year, the urban population amounted to 7 million 370 thousand people.

About 70% of the urban population is concentrated in large cities with a population of 100 thousand or more. This is the city of Minsk, all regional centers, as well as Bobruisk, Baranovichi, Borisov, Pinsk, Orsha, Mozyr, Soligorsk, Novopolotsk, Lida.

Average age of the population of Belarus
(at the beginning of 2016; years)

The average age of the population of Belarus, since 1990, has increased by 5 years and is 40.1 years (men - 37.3 years, women - 42.5 years).

The average age of a city resident has increased by 6.8 years since 1990 and amounted to 38.8 years. During this period, the villager matured by 3.2 years and his average age was 44.5 years.

Vitebsk region is the oldest region. The average age of the region's population is 41.5 years. The youngest region is Minsk, where the average age of the population is 38.3 years.

Ethnolinguistic composition of the population of Belarus

The modern ethno-linguistic structure of the population of Belarus was formed as a result of long-term historical development, under the influence of geographical, historical, socio-economic, political and ethnic factors.

Throughout the history of the existence of the Belarusian ethnic group, Belarusians populated their ethnic territory in a compact area. Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians have long lived next to the indigenous nationalities on the territory of Belarus, that is, representatives of those peoples who lived in close proximity to the Belarusians.
Censuses provide us with rich information about the national composition of the population. According to the latest census of 1999, representatives of more than 130 nations and nationalities lived on the territory of Belarus. The most numerous of them are Belarusians, Russians, Poles, Ukrainians and Jews (Figure 1, Table 1). However, the absolute majority of the country's population are representatives of the indigenous Belarusian nationality. Thus, in the country as a whole, more than four-fifths of the total population (81.2%) are Belarusians. This is typical for both cities and rural areas in almost all regions.

Belarusians. In total, according to the 1999 census, 8158.9 thousand Belarusians lived on the territory of Belarus. This is 254.3 thousand more people than according to the 1989 census. Basically, the increase in the number and share of Belarusians on the territory of the republic in the 90s occurred due to their active re-emigration from other republics of the former USSR back to Belarus. In 1989, on the territory of the former Soviet Union there were 10,036.3 thousand people of Belarusian nationality, of which 7,904.4 thousand people (78.8%) lived on the territory of Belarus. The remaining 2131.7 thousand people (21.2%) of Belarusian nationality lived outside the republic, mainly in Russia (12.0%), Ukraine (4.4%), Kazakhstan (1.8%), Latvia (1. 2%) and in all other republics combined - 1.8%. Currently, the share of Belarusians living in other CIS and Baltic countries has decreased somewhat, since in the 90s, after the collapse of the USSR, there was a re-emigration of Belarusians to Belarus from almost all former republics.

Figure 1. Dynamics of changes in the number of main national groups of the population of Belarus (according to population census data)
* Here and in subsequent figures, data for these years are given based on the actual population

The largest balance of migration was noted from Russia, the Baltic countries, and Kazakhstan, that is, from those republics in which the largest number of Belarusians lived. The maximum influx of population to Belarus from almost all states of the former USSR occurred in 1992; in recent years (1994-1999), the intensity of the influx of population has dropped sharply. The re-emigration of Belarusians is caused by a number of reasons. The main ones are the collapse of the USSR and related processes, as well as increased competition in labor markets with the population of titular nationalities, and the emergence of national conflicts in a number of republics of the former USSR. In total, in the years after the 1989 census, over 15% of all Belarusians who lived outside the Republic of Belarus in the territory of the former USSR returned to the republic. The intensity of re-emigration of Belarusians is especially clearly visible when comparing the number of arriving migrants of Belarusian nationality from different states with the number of Belarusians living in these states according to the 1989 census. Thus, during the 90s, every third of the Belarusians who lived there in 1989 left for Belarus from the Transcaucasian states, and almost all of them left Armenia; Over the years, more than 15% of Belarusians living in these states at the date of the 1989 census have left the Baltic countries, Central Asian countries, and Russia.

Belarusians predominate in the overwhelming majority of districts of the republic, only in the Lida and Shchuchinsky districts their share is less than half of the population - 46 and 41%, respectively, and in Voronovsky - only 11%. The largest proportion of Belarusians was noted in the Kopyl, Lelchit and Ivanovo districts - 95% each, and in the Stolin district - 96%.

Russians. Of the non-indigenous people in the republic, the majority are Russian; according to the 1999 census, their number was 1141.7 thousand people, which is 200.4 thousand less than according to the 1989 census. The decrease in this number is mainly due to the outflow of the Russian population after the collapse of the USSR, the withdrawal of troops from the territory of the republic (where their share was significant), as well as assimilation processes. The largest percentage of Russians is found mainly in the northern and eastern regions of Belarus, as well as in areas with a high proportion of urban population. Thus, Russians make up 15% or more in areas such as Borisov, Kirov, Brest, Gomel, Grodno, Braslav, Vitebsk, Bobruisk, and this figure reaches its maximum value in the Polotsk region - 20%. And in areas such as Voronovsky, Ivyevsky, Korelichi, Gantsevichi, Drogichensky, Ivanovo, Lelchitsky and Stolinsky, Russians make up less than 4% of the total population.

Russian settlements on the territory of Belarus began to emerge after the war between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1654-1667). Then, in the 17th-18th centuries, groups of the Russian population settled on the territory of Belarus - Old Believers, who sought refuge from religious persecution. They formed rural settlements in Vitebsk, Vilna, Minsk, and Mogilev provinces.

At the end of the 18th and 19th centuries, Russian landowners, officials, workers, and peasants actively moved to Belarusian lands, buying land from landowners and the treasury.

During the Soviet Union, the number and share of Russians constantly increased - from 8% in 1959 to 13% in 1989. This increase was mainly ensured by the migration influx from various regions of the RSFSR. This process took place most intensively in the post-war period, since the restoration of destroyed factories, factories, administrative and residential premises required a significant amount of qualified labor resources. In addition, new industries developed in the republic: chemical, oil refining, radio electronics, automotive, tractor, precision instrument making, production of mineral fertilizers, engines, bearings, etc., which also required the additional involvement of qualified specialists. Therefore, most Russians settled in urban settlements.

Poles. The third largest national group in Belarus is the Poles. In total, according to the 1999 census, 395.7 thousand people of Polish nationality lived in the republic. This is 22 thousand fewer people than according to the 1989 census. The vast majority of them are located in the areas of the Grodno region bordering Poland. These are mainly people of local origin, whose ancestors also lived here. The share of Poles in the total population in the republic is constantly decreasing, mainly due to natural movement, assimilation processes and migration. The resettlement of Poles to the territory of Belarus took place during the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. These migrations were more active in 1921-1939, when the western regions of Belarus were under Polish rule.

Poles are spread across Belarus in a compact mass in the western and northwestern regions of the country, mainly in rural areas. In Ivyevsky, Grodno, Braslavsky, Zelvensky, Volkovysk, Lida districts they make up more than a quarter of the population (from 25 to 40%), in Shchuchinsky - over half (51%), and in Voronovsky - the overwhelming majority - 83%. Such a significant predominance of people of non-indigenous nationality is an exceptional phenomenon for Belarus. However, according to many researchers, a significant part of people who consider themselves Poles are in fact “Polished” Belarusians. The fact is that these territories were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for a long time, and later were under the rule of Poland, which, naturally, could not but affect the ethnic self-awareness of Belarusians, who were forced to accept Catholicism and learn the Polish language.

Ukrainians. According to the 1999 census, 237 thousand Ukrainians live in Belarus. And the number decreased by 5 thousand compared to 1989, although in previous years it was constantly growing.

Ukrainians live both in rural areas of areas adjacent to the border of Ukraine and in the cities of Belarus. Their settlements have long arisen in the southern regions of Belarus, in the Polesie zone.

Data from the latest population census showed that the largest percentage of people of this nationality live mainly in the southwestern and southeastern regions of Belarus. Thus, in Zhabinkovsky, Kobrinsky, Brest, Braginsky, Kamenetsky and Maloritsky districts, Ukrainians make up more than 5%. In the central and northern territories, Ukrainians make up a small part of the total population. In 27 districts of the republic their share is less than 1%. Among them: Oshmyarsky, Ivyevsky, Voronovsky, Korelichi, Myadelsky, Kopylsky, Sharkovshchinsky, Ushachsky and others.

Jews. In addition to representatives of the named nationalities, the number of each of which exceeds 100 thousand people, representatives of smaller national groups live in the republic. The most numerous of them are Jews. Jews remain the fifth largest national group in Belarus by population, but the number of this nationality in the years after the 1989 census decreased significantly (by 84.2 thousand people) and amounted to only 27.8 thousand people (0.3% of the total population). In 1989, it numbered 112 thousand people and accounted for 1.1% of the total population. According to the 1939 census, 375.1 thousand Jews lived in Eastern Belarus alone, 6.7% of the total population. They constituted the second largest national population group. The reduction in the number and proportion of people of Jewish nationality on the territory of the republic is caused by a number of reasons: increased migration after the elimination of the Pale of Settlement in the first years of Soviet power, losses during the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1944, the spread of mixed marriages, travel to large cities of Russia and Ukraine. Over the past 10 years, the number of this national group has decreased significantly due to intensive travel outside the CIS and Baltic countries. During 1989-1999, more than 130 thousand people received permission to travel outside the CIS and Baltic countries in Belarus. Among them, a significant proportion were people of Jewish nationality; this proportion was especially large among those leaving in 1989-1995.

The first Jews appeared on Belarusian soil in the 8th century as a result of migration from the Middle East. And a little later, in the 11th century, from the territory of Western Europe, from where they fled from religious persecution. Jewish immigration reached its most significant scale in the 16th century, when not only representatives of large financial capital, but also the middle and poor strata of the Jewish population began to move to the territory of modern Belarus. Thus, “the total Jewish population on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 60s of the 16th century reached 20 thousand people, and by 1628 - about 40 thousand. According to the calculations of the famous Belarusian historian Z.Yu. Kopyssky, in the cities and towns of Belarus Jews made up from 2 to 10% of the population."

The overwhelming majority of the Jews of Tsarist Russia lived on the territory of modern Belarus, Poland and Ukraine, since these territories were part of the so-called “Pale of Settlement” zone. Thus, according to the 1897 census, there were 5,189,401 Jews in the Russian Empire, which was about 4% of the total population, and in the Grodno province - 17.4%, Vilna - 15.4, Vitebsk - 11.7, Minsk - 16, 0, Mogilevskaya - 12.1%.

A significant part of the Jewish population lived in such settlements as Vitebsk, Brest, Grodno, Minsk, Pinsk, Slutsk, Mogilev, Gomel, etc.

As the 1999 census showed, people of Jewish nationality are dispersed throughout the territory, that is, not forming a compact residential area. In 60 districts of the republic (that is, almost exactly half), their share is less than one tenth of one percent of the total population. This indicator reaches its highest value in Orsha (0.4%), Mogilev (0.4%), Mozyr (0.4%), Bobruisk (0.6%), Gomel (0.7%), Vitebsk (0.7% ) districts and in Minsk (0.6%).

Table 1. National composition of the population of Belarus
(population census data)

Nationality	Number, thousand people					1999 as a percentage of 1989
Whole population
Belarusians
Ukrainians
Azerbaijanis
Moldovans
Others and those not specified
Share in total population, percentage
Whole population
Belarusians
Ukrainians
Azerbaijanis
Moldovans
Others and those not specified

Other nationalities. Representatives of smaller national population groups living on the territory of Belarus, but numbering more than 10 thousand people each, include Armenians and Tatars. The number of Armenians living in the republic is rapidly increasing. Compared to the 1959 census data, it increased more than five times and amounted to 10.2 thousand people on the date of the 1999 census. The number of Armenians has grown especially rapidly in the last decade, more than doubling. Tatars have been living on the territory of the republic for several generations. Their number, according to the 1999 census, was 10.1 thousand people versus 12.6 thousand according to the 1989 census and 8.7 thousand according to the 1959 census. In addition to the mentioned nationalities, Gypsies, Lithuanians, Azerbaijanis, Germans, Moldovans, Georgians, and Latvians live on the territory of Belarus. The remaining peoples living on the territory of Belarus at the date of the 1999 census are small in number (less than one thousand).

Linguistic features of the population

Linguistic assimilation. In Belarus, to a greater extent than in any other state in the post-Soviet space, linguistic assimilation and bilingualism of the population are expressed. Almost the entire population of Belarus fluently understands two related languages, Belarusian and Russian.

Linguistic assimilation is expressed in the fact that population groups of one nationality, being in close socio-economic, cultural and everyday contact with another nationality, master its language and, through the transitional stage of bilingualism, begin to consider this new language as their native language. For Belarusians, as well as for all national minorities living on the territory of Belarus, the transition to the Russian language is typical. It should be noted that this process is usually quite slow and requires a long period of time. But on the territory of Belarus there were and are factors that significantly accelerate this process: the proximity of the Russian and Belarusian languages, the common economic, social and political space in the former Soviet Union, close labor, business, scientific contacts, etc.

Throughout the post-war period, the proportion of those who called Russian their native language grew in the republic. If in 1959 only 6.8% of Belarusians called Russian their native language, in 1970 - 9.8, in 1979 - 16, then the 1989 population census showed that this figure increased to 19.7%, that is, every fifth The Belarusian considered Russian his native language. The same trend was typical for other national groups. However, since the beginning of the 90s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, with the growth of national self-awareness, as well as the increasing role of the Belarusian language in public life, the situation has changed.

In 1990, the Language Law was adopted in Belarus. In accordance with this law, the Belarusian language received the status of the state language, which was reflected in the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus of 1994. This served to intensify the use and study of the Belarusian language in the republic, which should have a positive impact on the growth in the number of people fluent in the Belarusian language in Belarus.

On May 14, 1995, a national referendum was held. 64.8% of the country's citizens took part in it. 83.3% of the population who took part in the referendum voted for the introduction of Russian as the second state language, and thus the Russian language was given equal status with the Belarusian language.

In the 1999 census, the question of the prevalence of languages ​​among the population was studied comprehensively, that is, the population was asked to indicate not only their native language, but also the language that the respondent speaks at home, and another language that they speak fluently.

Native language. According to the 1999 census, among the entire population of the country, 81.9% of residents named the language of their nationality as their native language and 18.1% indicated the languages ​​of other peoples (Table 2). In 1989, this figure was 78 and 22%, respectively. The Belarusian language, the language of the indigenous nationality of the Republic of Belarus, according to the 1999 census, was called native by 73.7% of the total population of the country. This is significantly more than 10 years ago. According to the 1989 census, only 65.6% of the total population considered Belarusian their native language.

Russian was considered a native language by 21.9% of the country's population; according to the 1989 census, Russian was considered a native language by 31.9% of the population.

Table 2. Distribution of population by nationality and native language, 1999

	Number, thousand people	Of the total number, in %	Indicated as native language
		consider the native language of their nationality	Belorussian	Russian	other
Whole population
Belarusians
Ukrainians

According to the 1999 census, 14.3% of Belarusians consider Russian their native language. This is less than 20 years ago. This is largely due to the growth of national self-awareness, as well as the fact that the Belarusian population census of 1999 provided an opportunity to distinguish between the concepts of “mother tongue” and “language spoken at home.”

It should be noted that the population census showed an increase in Belarusian and a decrease in the share of Russian as a “native” language not only among Belarusians, but also among the other four largest national groups living in the republic.

Figure 2. Linguistic assimilation in the Republic of Belarus
(according to the 1999 census)

Thus, among Ukrainians, the share of people who called Belarusian their native language during the population census increased from 5.9% in 1989 to 14.3% in 1999, among Poles - from 63.9 to 67.1%. Such a significant percentage of Poles who consider Belarusian their native language is due to the fact that most of them live in rural areas, together with Belarusians, moreover, often people who consider themselves to be of Polish nationality are in fact native Belarusians who have accepted the Catholic faith, which in most cases it was regarded as a transition to Polish nationality. Even among Russians, this figure (the share of people who consider Belarusian their native language) increased from 2.2 to 9.1%. But it increased most sharply among Jews - from 2.1 to 17.1%, that is, eight times.

At the same time, despite a slight decrease in Russian-speaking assimilation, the proportion of people who consider Russian their native language remains significant. The latest population census showed that 90.7% of Russians, 77% of Jews, 42.8% of Ukrainians, 16.2% of Poles and 14.3% of Belarusians named Russian as their native language.

The second side of linguistic assimilation is that national groups not only switch to another language, but at the same time “forget” their native one. This trait is most characteristic of Poles, and especially of Jews. If in 1959 48.6% of Poles recognized Polish as their native language, then in 1999 - only 16.5%. Among Jews, this figure is even lower, falling from 21.9% in 1959 to 5.4% in 1999. Russians and Belarusians are least susceptible to this process. Thus, in 1959, almost 100% of Russians recognized their language as their native language; in 1999, this figure was 90.7%. For Belarusians, this figure was 93.2 and 85.6%, respectively. A distinctive feature of Ukrainians living on the territory of Belarus is that from 1959 to 1999 a fairly constant proportion of people of this nationality, approximately 40-50%, call Ukrainian their native language.

The language spoken at home. The population of Belarus is characterized by a high proportion of the population that speaks Russian at home, not the language of their nationality. According to the 1999 census, only 45% of the population spoke the language of their nationality at home. The Belarusian language is usually spoken at home by 3,683 thousand people, or 36.7% of the republic’s population (see Table 3).

Table 3. Distribution of population by nationality and language spoken at home, 1999

	Number, thousand people	Of the total number, indicate the language usually spoken at home, in %
		Belorussian	Russian	other
Whole population
Belarusians
Ukrainians

Of these, 3,373 thousand people (92%) are Belarusians. However, among all Belarusians their share is less than half, only 41.3%, while among the Poles more than half (57.6%) speak Belarusian at home.

Russian was named as the language commonly used at home by 6,308 thousand people, or 62.8% of the total population of the republic. Of these, 4,783 thousand people are Belarusians. Among Belarusians their share was 58.6%.

In cities, the proportion of Russian speakers at home is significantly higher than in rural areas (see Table 4).

Table 4. Distribution of urban and rural populations by nationality and language spoken at home
(1999, percent)

Nationalities	Urban population		Rural population
	Belorussian	Russian	Belorussian	Russian
Whole population
Belarusians
Ukrainians

As can be seen from the data in Table 4, for all major nationalities living in the cities of Belarus, the main spoken language is Russian.
This is due to the fact that the population in cities is more diverse in ethnic composition than in rural areas, interethnic marriages are more common here, and the level of education is much higher, which somewhat influences the strengthening of the role of the Russian language - the language of interethnic communication.

Figure 3. Proportion of people of a given nationality who called their national language their native language

Socio-economic differences. The 1999 Census also revealed significant differences in levels of urbanization, education, unemployment, economic activity, occupation and other economic characteristics among different national groups.

The census reflected the following differentiation in the share of people living in cities among the largest national groups living on the territory of the Republic of Belarus: Belarusians - 5,498 thousand people, which is 67.4% of all people of this nationality; Russians - 972.7 thousand people (85.2%), Poles - 215.1 thousand (54.4%), Ukrainians - 184.8 thousand (78%), Jews - 27.2 thousand (97.8%) , other nationalities - 637 thousand people (75.9%) (Table 5)

Table 5. Proportion of people living in cities and rural areas in five national groups of the Republic of Belarus
(according to the 1999 census)

Nationality	Whole population		Urban population		Rural population
Whole population
Belarusians
Ukrainians

Compared to the entire urban population of the republic, the proportion of Belarusians and Poles is somewhat smaller, while the proportion of Russians, Ukrainians, and especially Jews is larger.

Ethnolinguistic differences between the urban and rural populations are the result of the historical features of the formation of the national composition of Belarus. Thus, according to the 1897 census, in Minsk more than half of the residents were Jews - 51.2%, Russians were in second place - 25.5, Poles were in third - 11.4, and Belarusians were only in fourth place, accounting for only 9% of the total population. The national composition was approximately the same in other cities. Thus, 34,440 Jews lived in Vitebsk, or 52% of the total population of the city, in Brest - 30,260 (65%), in Grodno - 22,684 (48%), Pinsk - 21,065 (74%), Slutsk 10,264 (77%), Mogilev - 21547 (50%), Gomel - 20385 (55%).

The rural population was represented mainly by indigenous inhabitants - Belarusians, as well as Poles.

The increased percentage of the Jewish population in cities and towns is explained by the policy of oppression carried out by the tsarist authorities. Thus, on May 3, 1882, “Temporary Rules” were published, according to which Jews were prohibited from settling in rural areas, renting land and purchasing real estate outside cities, and engaging in agriculture and cattle breeding.

The level of education. Significant differences were noted between representatives of different nationalities and by level of education. The census showed that per 1000 people of the corresponding nationality, for example, 120 Belarusians, 261 Russians, 89 Poles, 221 Ukrainians and 405 Jews have higher education (see Table 6).

Table 6. Level of education of persons of certain nationalities of the Republic of Belarus (per 1000 people of the corresponding nationality have education, according to the 1999 population census)

Nationality	Higher secondary and basic	including		Initial
		higher	intermediate and basic
Belarusians
Ukrainians

Age composition. Different national population groups differ quite significantly in their age and sex composition (Figure 4). The largest proportion of the working-age population in their structure is Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians (66%, 63 and 56%, respectively), the smallest are Jews - 46%.

In turn, almost half of the Jews living in Belarus are people of retirement age, while among Belarusians and Russians the share of pensioners is only a fifth of their total number.

You should also pay attention to the process of population aging. Of particular concern is the decrease in the proportion of children and youth in the general structure of the population, which limits the possibility of replenishing the labor force, since retirement is not fully compensated by young people entering working age.

Figure 4. Population structure of individual nationalities of the Republic of Belarus by economic group
(according to the 1999 census)

A low proportion of children is characteristic of almost all of the most numerous national groups living on the territory of Belarus. Thus, the age group under 10 years among Russians, Poles and Ukrainians is 7.5%, 9.6 and 4.6%, respectively, and among Jews it is only 2.6%. Only among Belarusians this age group exceeds 10% (Figure 5, Table 7).

Figure 5. Population structure of individual nationalities of the Republic of Belarus by age (according to the 1999 population census)

Table 7. Population structure of individual nationalities of the Republic of Belarus by age (according to the 1999 population census; percentage)

nationality	Total	including age, years
										70 and older
Belarusians
Ukrainians

Areas of application of labor. The population census also showed that there are certain interethnic differences in the areas of employment (see Table 8). They are connected not only with the specifics of the historical development of peoples, but also with some of their social characteristics (primarily the level of education and urbanization). These phenomena have mainly begun to attract the attention of sociologists, demographers, and the public recently. The main reason for increasing attention to this problem is the current situation in the distribution of labor resources.

Table 8. Employed population of individual nationalities of the Republic of Belarus by occupation (as a percentage of the total employed population of the corresponding nationality; according to the 1999 population census)

	Total	Belarusians	Russians	Poles	Ukrainians	Jews
Whole population
of them:
heads (representatives) of government and management bodies at all levels, including heads of institutions, organizations and enterprises and their structural divisions
specialists of the highest level of qualification
mid-level specialists
employees involved in the preparation of information, documentation, accounting and maintenance
workers in the service sector, housing and communal services, trade and related activities
qualified workers in agriculture, forestry, hunting, fish farming and fishing
skilled workers of large and small industrial enterprises, arts and crafts, construction, transport, communications, geology and subsoil exploration
operators, machine operators, installation and machine operators, product assemblers
unskilled workers

Thus, among the heads (representatives) of government and management bodies of all levels, including heads of institutions, organizations and enterprises and their structural divisions (as a percentage of the total employed population of the corresponding nationality), Belarusians make up 9.9%, Poles - 8.5, Ukrainians - 13.0, Russians - 13.6, and Jews - 24.3%. The picture is approximately the same among highly qualified specialists, that is, a higher percentage among Jews, Russians and Ukrainians - 35.3, 23.3, 18.3%, respectively, and a lower percentage among Belarusians - 14.6%, as well as Poles - 13.0%. At the same time, the employment structure of Belarusians and Poles is distinguished by a higher percentage of qualified workers employed in agriculture, forestry, hunting, fish farming and fishing - 5.3 and 7.0%, respectively. For Russians, Ukrainians and Jews this figure is 2.8%, 5.2 and 0.2%.

Thus, a higher level of education and urbanization (as is known, the main administrative, economic, production, cultural, scientific and other functions are concentrated in cities) significantly contributes to the fact that in the employment structure of Ukrainians, Russians, and especially Jews, the most there is a high proportion of managers and specialists of the highest level of qualification.

In turn, a significant part of Belarusians and Poles live in rural areas, which determines the increased share of their participation in agriculture and forestry.

Unemployment. Recently, attention to such an indicator as the unemployment rate, which largely determines the state of the labor market and shows the state of the country’s economy as a whole, has increased significantly. According to the census, the unemployment rate in the republic in 1999 was 6.2% of the total economically active population (6.8% in urban areas and 4.6% in rural areas).

This indicator also varies markedly across national groups (see Table 9).

Table 9. Population of selected nationalities by unemployment rate; according to the 1999 population census (share of unemployed in the economically active population of the corresponding nationality; percentage)

Nationality	Whole population	Urban population	Rural population
For Belarus as a whole
Belarusians
Ukrainians

The highest unemployment rate is for Russians - 7.6% and Ukrainians - 6.4%; among Belarusians and Poles it is 6.0 and 5.6%, respectively. Jews have the lowest unemployment rate - only 4.8%. If we compare this indicator with the level of urbanization by national groups, we can notice the following pattern: the higher the level of urbanization, the higher the unemployment rate.

The only exception is Jews, who, despite the highest level of urbanization among the five largest national groups, have the lowest level of unemployment. To a large extent, this is the result of increased migration activity of this ethnic group: dissatisfied with their social, financial and other situation, they leave first.

1 - Kasperovich G.I. Migration of population to cities and ethnic processes. Minsk. Science and Technology, 1985
2 - Ioffe E.G. pages of the history of the Jews of Belarus. Minsk, 1996

How many cities are there in modern Belarus? What nationalities live here? What is the population of Belarus? You will find answers to these, as well as some other demographic questions, in our article.

Belarus: population, numbers

The demographic situation in Belarus is generally the same as in other countries of the post-Soviet space. The same problems are observed here as in neighboring Russia or Ukraine.

Today the population of Belarus is 9 million 480 thousand people. By the way, the country's President Alexander Lukashenko recently stated that at least twenty million people should live in the state. Nevertheless, real demographic forecasts are not yet as rosy as the leader of the Republic of Belarus wants them to be.

The country's population, viewed from a historical perspective, grew until 1993. It was then that the number of residents here reached a record high of 10.2 million people. After this, the population of Belarus began to decline rapidly. The main reason for the deterioration of the demographic situation in the country is the excess of mortality over the birth rate. True, in recent years, natural growth statistics have improved slightly. In addition, the overall population decline was slightly smoothed out due to an increase in immigration flows into the country.

The dynamics of the population of Belarus is illustrated more clearly in the following graph. The time period shown here is from 1993 to 2008.

Key Demographics

In terms of demographics, the country of Belarus has little to boast of, whose population continues to decline. The average life expectancy here is 72 years (with women living 11 years longer). This figure is higher than that of its neighbors - Russians and Ukrainians, but significantly lower than in developed European countries.

A rather acute demographic problem in Belarus is the serious gap in life expectancy between men and women. After all, according to UN standards, it should not exceed five years within one state. It is worth noting that in rural areas this gap is even more noticeable - almost 14 years.

There are slightly more boys born in Belarus (106 per hundred girls). Although this is a global trend. Families with one child predominate in the republic (about 66% of them in the country). Families with three or more children are not uncommon in Belarus, but they are not a common enough occurrence. According to the most recent data, one marriage out of two in this country is dissolved.

The most demographically problematic region of Belarus is Vitebsk. Here, year after year, the highest mortality rates are recorded, as well as record low birth rates.

Ethnolinguistic structure of the population

What nationalities live in the country called Belarus? Its population has always been ethnically diverse. Along with the indigenous nation, Ukrainians, Poles, Russians, Moldovans, Jews, Lithuanians, etc. have long lived here.

Today, at least 130 different nationalities live in Belarus. The top five ethnic groups in the country in terms of numbers are as follows:

1. Belarusians (83.7%).
2. Russians (8.2%).
3. Poles (3.1%).
4. Ukrainians (1.7%).
5. Jews (0.14%).

In which regions of Belarus do representatives of these nationalities live?

Thus, the Russians are concentrated in the northeastern part of the country; Poles - in the west; Ukrainians, as predicted, are in the south. Jews traditionally live in big cities (there are especially many of them in Gomel, Brest, Minsk and Grodno).

According to the last population census, which was conducted in the country in 2009, only 60% of its residents named Belarusian as their native language. Moreover, no more than 30% use it in everyday communication (and even then mainly in villages). Thus, Belarus is characterized by the problem of preserving its native language. After all, many linguists already classify it as endangered.

Largest cities in Belarus

The total population of Belarusian cities today is 7.2 million people. At the same time, as many experts note, urbanization processes will only intensify in the near future.

In Belarus there are 14 cities with a population of over one hundred thousand people and only one million-plus city. Over 70% of the country's total urban population is concentrated here.

The largest cities in the country by population are Minsk (1.9 million inhabitants), Gomel (505 thousand), Vitebsk (372 thousand), Mogilev (370 thousand), Grodno (352 thousand) and Brest (325 thousand).

At the same time, the rural population in Belarus continues to decline. On average, this figure is up to 50 thousand people annually (in recent years).

The capital of the state, as well as its cultural, transport, scientific and educational center, is the hero city of Minsk, which is located almost in the center of the country.

Conclusion

Belarus ranks 18th in Europe in terms of the number of its inhabitants. Today the country is home to almost 9.5 million people. The demographic problems of Belarus as a whole are typical for the post-Soviet space: low birth rates, high mortality rates, rural extinction, and low average life expectancy (especially for men).

The Republic of Belarus is a state with a sharp predominance of one nation, but with the presence of more or less significant national minorities. According to the 2009 census, representatives of about 130 nationalities live here. 7,957,252 people consider themselves Belarusians - this is 83.7% of the population. The share of other nationalities living on the territory of Belarus is 16.3%, respectively. The most numerous of them are Russians 8.3%, Poles 3.1%, Ukrainians 1.7%. Jews, Armenians, Tatars, Gypsies, Azerbaijanis and Lithuanians each make up 0.1% of the total population (Table 2.1).

Table 2.1. National composition of the population of the Republic of Belarus, 2009

Total, person	Including	Urban population, %	Rural population, %	To the total number population, %
Whole population
Belarusians
Ukrainians
Azerbaijanis

Belarus is no exception among most European countries; in the age structure there is a clear predominance of women in almost all nationalities. Only among Armenians and Azerbaijanis are there a significant predominance of men, this is due to their increase due to labor immigration.

Belarus has a high level of urbanization, amounting to 74%. 73% of Belarusians live in cities, and the dominance of the urban population is also observed among all the main nationalities of the republic.

It should be noted that, despite the fact that the total population of Belarus has been constantly decreasing since 1994, the absolute number of people of Belarusian nationality increased by 5.7% in the 90s (Table 2.2). However, then, in the first decade of the 21st century, their numbers decreased by 3.2%.

In general, for the period from 1989 to 2009. The population of Belarusian nationality increased, although only by 0.7% (52.7 thousand people). The share of Belarusians in the entire population increased constantly: from 77.9% in 1989 to 81.2% in 1999 and to 83.7% in 2009. This happened due to the active repatriation of Belarusians from other republics of the former USSR back to Belarus.

Table 2.2. Changes in the national composition of the population for the period 1989-2009.

Currently, the share of Belarusians living in other CIS and Baltic countries has decreased somewhat, since in the 90s, after the collapse of the USSR, there was a repatriation of Belarusians to Belarus from almost all former republics. The largest balance of migration was noted from Russia, the Baltic countries, Kazakhstan, i.e. of those republics in which the largest number of Belarusians lived. The maximum influx of population to Belarus from almost all states of the former USSR occurred in 1992; in subsequent years, the intensity of the population influx fell sharply.

The re-emigration of Belarusians is caused by a number of reasons. The main ones are the collapse of the USSR and related processes, as well as increased competition in labor markets with the population of titular nationalities, and the emergence of national conflicts in a number of republics of the former USSR. In total, in the years after the 1989 census, more than 15% of all Belarusians who lived outside the Republic of Belarus in the territory of the former USSR returned to the republic.

Rice. 2.1. Dynamics of the number of main nationalities in the Republic of Belarus (1989 - 2009)

As noted above, the majority of non-indigenous people in the republic are Russians. In 1999, their number was greater than in 2009 and amounted to 1141.7 thousand people, and in 1989 - 1342.1 thousand people. (Fig. 2.1). That is, their numbers have been constantly decreasing since 1989. In 2009, 200.4 thousand fewer people in Belarus considered themselves to be of Russian nationality than according to the 1989 census. It should be noted that the number and share of the Russian population in Belarus and Belarusians in Russia in the 60s, 70s and The 80s grew quite quickly. This was due to the active exchange of qualified personnel between the republics in the post-war years in order to accelerate the development of productive forces and the development of new industries and new territories. Russians in Belarus mainly live in cities and in the eastern border rural areas of the republic. The decrease in the number of Russians in the 90s is mainly due to the migration outflow of the Russian population due to the collapse of the USSR, as well as the fact that part of the population, especially those born in mixed marriages, during the census more actively identified themselves as the indigenous Belarusian nationality.

The third largest national group in Belarus are the Poles. The number of people who consider themselves to be of Polish nationality on the territory of the republic is constantly decreasing. According to the 1999 census, 395.7 thousand people of Polish nationality lived in the country, and in 1989 417.7 thousand people. Accordingly, the share of Poles in the total population decreases. According to the 1989 census, their share was 4.1%, and according to the 2009 census - 3.1%. This happened mainly due to their moving to relatives in Poland.

The number of Ukrainians decreased by 132.3 thousand compared to 1989, although in previous years it was constantly growing. The share of Ukrainians in the population of Belarus decreased from 2.9% to 1.7%. Ukrainians live both in rural areas, in areas adjacent to the border, and in the cities of Belarus.

In addition to representatives of the named nationalities, the number of each of which exceeds 100 thousand people. and makes up more than 1% of the total population, representatives of smaller national groups live in Belarus. The most numerous of them are Jews. Jews remain the fifth largest national group in Belarus by population, but its number in the years after the 1989 census decreased significantly (by 99.1 thousand people) and amounted to only 12.9 thousand people (0.1% of the total population). In 1989, it numbered 112.0 thousand people and accounted for 1.1% of the total population. According to the 1939 census, 375.1 thousand Jews lived in Eastern Belarus alone, 6.7% of the total population. They constituted the second largest national group. The reduction in the number and proportion of people of Jewish nationality on the territory of the republic is caused by a number of reasons: increased migration after the elimination of the Pale of Settlement in the first years of Soviet power, losses during the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945, the spread of mixed marriages, departure to large cities of Russia and Ukraine. In the 90s The number of this national group has decreased significantly due to intensive travel outside the CIS and Baltic countries. For 1989-1999 In Belarus, more than 130 thousand people received permission to travel outside the CIS and Baltic countries. Among them, a significant proportion were people of Jewish nationality; this proportion was especially large among those leaving in 1989-1995. In recent years, the decline of this national group has been significantly influenced by natural population decline, since mostly young people left the republic, and mostly older generations remained. Already according to the 1999 census, more than half of all persons of Jewish nationality living in Belarus were of retirement age.

Representatives of smaller national population groups living on the territory of Belarus, but numbering more than 5 thousand people each, include Armenians and Tatars, Roma, Azerbaijanis and Lithuanians.

The number of Armenians living on the territory of the republic increased rapidly in the second half of the twentieth century. Compared to the 1959 census data, at the date of the 1999 census it increased approximately five times and amounted to 10.2 thousand people. The number of Armenians grew especially rapidly in the 90s. In the last decade, the number and share of Armenians in Belarus has decreased somewhat.

Tatars have been living on the territory of the republic for several generations. Their numbers are constantly decreasing. According to the 2009 census, it was 7.3 thousand people, versus 10.1 thousand people. in 1999 and 12.6 thousand in 1989.

Gypsies also traditionally live in the country. Lithuanians live mainly along the border with Lithuania. In the 90s, the number of Azerbaijanis increased significantly, but after the 1999 census. it decreased again. Some Azerbaijanis returned back to Azerbaijan.

In addition to persons of the named nationalities, Germans, Moldovans, Georgians, Latvians, Chuvashs, Mordovians, Uzbeks, and Kazakhs live on the territory of Belarus.

The remaining peoples living on the territory of Belarus at the date of the 2009 census are small in number (less than 1 thousand).