to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 6
under 914 m: 35 (2006)

Heliports:
1 (2006)

Pipelines:
gas 5,223 km; oil 2,321 km; refined products 1,686 km (2006)

Railways:
total: 5,512 km
broad gauge: 5,497 km 1.520-m gauge (874 km electrified)
standard gauge: 15 km 1.435 m (2005)

Roadways:
total: 93,310 km
paved: 81,180 km
unpaved: 12,130 km (2004)

Waterways:
2,500 km (use limited by location on perimeter of country and by
shallowness) (2003)

Ports and terminals:
Mazyr

Military Belarus

Military branches:
Belarus Armed Forces: Land Force, Air and Air Defense Force (2006)

Military service age and obligation:
18-27 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript
service obligation - 18 months (2005)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 2,520,644
females age 18-49: 2,564,696 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 1,657,984
females age 18-49: 2,102,793 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 85,202
females age 18-49: 82,037 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$420.5 million (2006)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.4% (FY02)

Transnational Issues Belarus

Disputes - international:
1997 boundary treaty with Ukraine remains unratified over
unresolved financial claims, preventing demarcation and diminishing
border security; the whole boundary with Latvia and more than half
the boundary with Lithuania remains undemarcated; discussions toward
economic and political union with Russia proceed slowly

Illicit drugs:
limited cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, mostly for the
domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to and via
Russia, and to the Baltics and Western Europe; a small and lightly
regulated financial center; new anti-money-laundering legislation
does not meet international standards; few investigations or
prosecutions of money-laundering activities

This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007

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@Belgium

Introduction Belgium

Background:
Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830; it was
occupied by Germany during World Wars I and II. The country
prospered in the past half century as a modern, technologically
advanced European state and member of NATO and the EU.