On June 1, 2010, the population of Belarus amounted to almost 9.47 million, decreasing by 10.3 thousand people, compared with the beginning of the year. Population decline is caused by the fact that during January-May of this year, 43.292 children were born the country, what is 1.420 fewer than in January-May of last year, 57.684 people died, or 655 less.
Natural decline in population this year reached 14.392 people. However, positive migration increase was equal to 4.083 people: 6.702 people arrived and 2.619 left the country, Belstat informs.
The highest birth rate in Belarus is registered in Brest region (11.8 children per thousand, 6849 children in total), the lowest — in Vitebsk (10 children per thousand, 5067 children in total). However, the highest total number of births is in Minsk — 8.394, or 11 per thousand, while the lowest is in Mogilev region — 4.720, or 10.5 per thousand.
The highest mortality rate is recorded in Vitebsk region (17.1, the total number of deaths is 8.677), the lowest — in Minsk (9.7, the total number of deaths is 7.356). The highest total number of deaths is in Minsk region (9.788 or 16.7 per thousand), the lowest — in Grodno region (7.098, or 16.1 per thousand).
In administrative aspect, the population growth rate is registered only in Minsk, where it amounted to 4.3 thousand people. Thus, on June 1, in the capital there lived nearly 1.84 million people, or 19.4% of the total country’s population.
During January-May 2010, the population of Brest region decreased by 0.8 thousand to 1.397 million, in Vitebsk region — by 3.6 thousand to 1.225 million, in Gomel region — by 2.5 thousand to 1.436 million, in Grodno region — by 2.2 thousand to 1.067 million, in Minsk region — by 2.3 thousand to 1.416 million, in Mogilev region — by 3.3 thousand to 1.088 million.
Over the same period, the number of registered marriages decreased by 2.6%, compared with the same period of 2009, the divorce rate has decreased by 0.6%.
