Geography Quiz Arcade

Belarus 🇧🇾

Belarus is a country in Europe with a population of 9,534,954. Its capital is Minsk. The official currency is BYN, and the main languages are Belarusian, Russian.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Minsk
  • Continent: Europe
  • Population: 9,534,954
  • Area: 207,600 km²
  • Density: 45.9 people per km²
  • Currency: BYN
  • Languages: Belarusian, Russian
  • ISO code: BY

Where Belarus sits

Belarus 🇧🇾 is one of 46 countries in Europe, with its capital at Minsk. It covers 207,600 square kilometres — 84th in the world — and is home to about 9,534,954 people, 96th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Belarus compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Belarus sits closest to United Arab Emirates and Tajikistan. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Guyana and Kyrgyzstan.

At 45.9 people per square kilometre it is about 1.3 times below the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by area than by population, so it is more spacious than its population alone suggests.

Belarusian is listed as official in Belarus alone. The BYN is used by Belarus and no one else.

To see Belarus next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Belarus

Minsk, the capital and largest city, stands on the Svislach River and was first mentioned in 1067. For the flag, look for the folk-art pattern down the left side.

The flag of Belarus: red, green and white

🇧🇾 The flag is a wide red stripe above a narrower green one, with a white vertical strip on the left decorated with a traditional red Belarusian pattern. Red stands for past struggles against oppression, and green for hope and the country's forests.

Region and neighbours

Belarus is a landlocked, mostly flat country in Eastern Europe, between Russia to the east and Poland to the west. It shares land borders with 5 countries: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Belarus is landlocked, with no coast on the open ocean.

Three facts about Belarus

  1. About 40% of Belarus is covered by forest, and the country has about 11,000 lakes.
  2. Belarus is so flat that its highest point, Dzyarzhynskaya Hara, is only 345 m high.
  3. Belarus has four UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the Mir Castle Complex and Nesvizh Castle.

Sources: Wikipedia: Belarus, Wikipedia: Flag of Belarus, Wikipedia: Minsk, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Belarus

Quizzes that include Belarus

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Belarus those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Belarus

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Belarus flag?

The flag of Belarus is a wide red stripe above a narrower green one, with a white vertical strip on the left decorated with a traditional red Belarusian pattern. Red stands for past struggles against oppression, and green for hope and the country's forests.

Which countries border Belarus?

Belarus shares land borders with Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

How can I remember the capital of Belarus?

Minsk, the capital and largest city, stands on the Svislach River and was first mentioned in 1067. For the flag, look for the folk-art pattern down the left side.