Red horizontal band (top) and green horizontal band one-half the width of the red band; a white vertical stripe on the hoist side bears the Belarusian national ornament in red.
6 oblastsi (singular - oblasts') and one municipality* (harady, singular - horad): Brestskaya (Brest), Homyel'skaya (Homyel'), Horad Minsk*, Hrodzyenskaya (Hrodna), Mahilyowskaya (Mahilyow), Minskaya, and Vitsyebskaya (Vitsyebsk). Oblasti have the administrative center name following in parentheses, when using a place name with the adjectival ending 'skaya' the word oblasts' should be added to the place name.
Population:
9,724,723 (July 2007 est.)
Languages:
Belarusian, Russian, other
Geographic coordinates:
53° 00' N, 28° 00' E
Area total:
207,600 sq. km
Land area:
207,600 sq. km
Water area:
0 sq. km
Total land boundaries:
2,900 km
Borders with neighbor countries:
Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 407 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km
30 March 1994, revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November 1996
Government type:
republic
National holiday:
Independence Day, 3 July (1944) 3 July 1944 was the date Minsk was liberated from German troops, 25 August 1991 was the date of independence from the Soviet Union