As of early 2016, the Republic’s population was recorded as 9,499,000 people: up 17,900 on last year. The city of Minsk boasts 1,960,000 residents (20 percent of the country’s total) while the Gomel Region is home to every seventh resident of the Republic (making it the most populated region). The Mogilev and Grodno regions are least populated, with just over 1m people each.
Three quarters of Belarus’ population live in urban settlements. In 2015, their number rose by 45,400, to reach 7.37 million, with the largest rise in Minsk (up 21,600). The rural population stood at 2,128,000 in 2015, or 22.4 percent of the total, with most living in the Minsk Region (43.4 percent) and the Mogilev Region being home to the smallest percentage (20.4 percent). Around 70 percent of rural dwellers are to be found in the Mogilev Region’s Dribin District and in the Grodno Region’s Voronovo District.
By Alexander Pimenov
