World Factbook
Belarus
Respublika Byelarus' (Belarusian)/ Respublika Belarus' (Russian)
Last updated: 2026-03-28 (today)
Area
land
202,900 sq km
water
4,700 sq km
total
207,600 sq km
Climate
cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime
Terrain
generally flat with much marshland
Land use
other
16.5% (2023 est.)
forest
44% (2023 est.)
agricultural land
39.6% (2023 est.)
agricultural land: arable land
arable land: 27.4% (2023 est.)
agricultural land: permanent crops
permanent crops: 0.4% (2023 est.)
agricultural land: permanent pasture
permanent pasture: 11.7% (2023 est.)
Location
Eastern Europe, east of Poland
Coastline
0 km (landlocked)
Elevation
lowest point
Nyoman River 90 m
highest point
Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m
mean elevation
160 m
Irrigated land
260 sq km (2022)
Map references
Europe
Land boundaries
total
3,599 km
border countries
Latvia 161 km; Lithuania 640 km; Poland 375 km; Russia 1,312 km; Ukraine 1,111 km
Maritime claims
none (landlocked)
Natural hazards
large tracts of marshy land
Geography - note
landlocked; glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and for its 11,000 lakes
Natural resources
timber, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay
Area - comparative
slightly less than twice the size of Kentucky; slightly smaller than Kansas
Geographic coordinates
53 00 N, 28 00 E
Population distribution
a fairly even distribution throughout most of the country, with urban areas attracting larger and denser populations
Major watersheds (area sq km)
Atlantic Ocean drainage
(Black Sea) Dnieper (533,966 sq km)
Major rivers (by length in km)
Dnyapro (Dnieper) (shared with Russia [s] and Ukraine [m]) - 2,287 km note: [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth