SOCIAL, HUMANITARIAN AND ECONOMIC SITUATION IN BELARUS AT THE CURRENT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT Belarus in global ratings and national statistics Facts & Figures as of January 2010 The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in the Member Countries in Figures 2009 publication reveals some facts and stats illustrating Belarus leading position by a number of critical indicators of social and economic development. In particular, it says that a salary gap between men and women in Belarus is lower than in most UNECE Member States and is equal to that of Germany, US and Switzerland. Belarus boasts fairly low unemployment – 1 per cent, meanwhile the jobless rate in a number of EU countries is between 7 to 8 per cent, including Poland – 9.6 per cent, Turkey – 8.5 per cent, Germany – 8.4 per cent, France and Spain – 8.3 per cent, and Belgium – 7.5 per cent. By the GDP per capita, Belarus is ahead of numerous Eastern European countries (Albania, Montenegro, Serbia) and most of CIS countries, and is close to two EU Member States – Bulgaria and Romania. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), in 2009 Belarus was the leader in terms of women’s share in the parliament among the CIS countries, standing at No. 19 in the 188-countries list. In Belarus, there are also more female MPs than in Poland (56 place), UK (60 place), France (66 place), US (71 place), Kazakhstan (75 place), Russia (82 place), Ukraine (111 place). The World Health Organization in the World Health Statistics 2009 report indicates that Belarus takes up the lead in Europe by a number of indicators. In particular, Belarus has come along in areas of measles immunization of children under one year old, antenatal care coverage, care for children aged under five with low body weight, and by a number of births attended by skilled health personnel. By access to improved water supplies, Belarus has a similar situation with such EU Member States as Austria, Denmark, France, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden. By access to improved sanitation means, Belarus is listed in a group of countries with high-than-average rate in its region and is ahead of Russia, Turkey, Latvia and Serbia. The International Road Transport Union in its New Eurasian Land Transport Initiative (NELTI) report argues that the Belarus border crossings are ‘easy’ ones in terms of low time and money consumption. The report also states that there is no corruption at the Belarus border crossings while in a number of countries the level of extortion is sometimes 20 times higher than formal fees. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in the Food Outlook: Global Market Analysis (December 2009) gives some statistics about Belarus thus placing it among key manufacturers of major agricultural produce. According to the FAO estimates, Belarus will increase its animal oil export from 62 thousand tons in 2008 to 70 thousand tons in 2010. Belarus is also expected to restore its cheese export figures at 102 thousand tons after a slight (less than 2 per cent) decrease in 2009. The FAO predicts that milk and milk-based produce output will continue to go up in Belarus from 6.2 million tons in 2008 to 6.6 million tone in 2010. Unlike other major barley producers (EU, Russia, Ukraine), Belarus barley harvest did not fall in 2009 and remained at 2 million tons. The FAO also expects a growing production (from 877 to 884 thousand tons), export (from 145 to 148 thousand tons) and domestic consumption (from 780 to 784 thousand tons) of meat in Belarus. A UN regional conference held in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 7-8 December 2009 on the impact of economic crisis on social area in countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Turkey, with participation of the ILO, UNICEF, FAO and UNDP, revealed (according to data available at the conference) that Belarus has retained a well developed and financed social protection system. According to the conference papers, Belarus has a good potential in preventing poverty in families with children, is ahead of all CIS countries by the value and structure of allowances for children and by income level of families with two children. Apart from that, a UNICEF background paper says it is only Belarus which pays all-purpose allowances for children aged under three while a FAO background paper places Belarus second in the CIS region by an estimated grain growth (22 per cent) in 2009-2010 against previous five-year figures, only behind Kazakhstan è Tajikistan (both 23 per cent) by that indicator. According to the National Statistics Committee of Belarus, in 2009 Belarus notched up a 0.2 per cent growth of its GDP against 2008. Capital investments and construction amounted to BYR43,1 trillion in 2009 and went up by 8.6 per cent against 2008. In 2009, the value of building and assembly work in Belarus was BYR20.9 trillion, 19.4 per cent higher than in 2008. A housing space of 5,849 million square metres was commissioned in 2009 which is a 14 per cent increase against 2008.
Economic Development Review: Belarus 2008 (.pdf ôàéë) |
