FACTS

Location: Eastern Europe, east of Poland

Area (only Total) total: 207,600 sq km

Climate: cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime

Terrain: generally flat and contains much marshland

Population: 9,685,768 (July 2008 est.)

Main Language (only first): Belarusian, Russian

Government type: republic in name, although in fact a dictatorship

Capital (Name): Minsk

Capital (Time Difference): UTC+2

Independence: 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day, 3 July (1944)