Languages of Belarus
Belarusian and Russian are the official languages according to the Constitution of Belarus (Article 17). The constitution guarantees preservation of the cultural heritage of all ethnic minorities, including their languages (Article 15).
Russian, and not Belarusian, is the dominant language in Belarus, spoken normally at home by 70% of the population (2009 census). Ukrainians and Jews also speak mostly Russian. Poles are the ethnic group who most frequently use Belarusian at home (41%), but the rest speak mainly Russian, with around 1% reporting Polish as the language exclusively used within the family.[1]
In everyday life many Belarusians, especially in rural areas, use a mixed language called Russian-Belarusian, relatively recently called "trasianka".
West Polesian dialect is colloquially spoken in Southwestern Belarus (Polesia area).
Language normally spoken at home, % of population in respective ethnic group[2]
| Nationality | Population, thousands of people | Belarusian | Russian |
|---|
| Total | 9,504 | 23.4 | 70.2 |
| Belarusians | 7,957 | 26.1 | 69.8 |
| Russians | 785 | 2.1 | 96.5 |
| Poles | 295 | 40.9 | 50.9 |
| Ukrainians | 159 | 6.1 | 88.4 |
| Jews | 13 | 2.0 | 95.9 |
Languages of Belarus according to 2009 census (green - Belarusian, blue - Russian)
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| Native languages |
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Spoken languages |
Knowledge of Belarusian and Russian languages by region and Minsk City
Source: Belstat Census 2009 [3]
Population classified by knowledge of the Belarusian and Russian languages by region and Minsk City (thousand)
| Entity |
All population |
Of total population persons who indicated as |
|---|
| Mother tongue |
Language normally spoken at home |
Other language they have good knowledge of |
| Belarusian | Russian | Belarusian | Russian | Belarusian | Russian |
| Republic of Belarus | 9503.8 | 5058.4 | 3948.1 | 2227.2 | 6673.0 | 1281.7 | 1305.4 |
| Brest Region | 1401.2 | 751.9 | 597.4 | 374.2 | 982.4 | 209.6 | 236.1 |
| Vitebsk Region | 1230.8 | 646.8 | 543.7 | 276.1 | 900.8 | 207.7 | 176.9 |
| Gomel Region | 1440.7 | 786.4 | 602.8 | 326.4 | 1037.6 | 154.8 | 166.5 |
| Grodno Region | 1072.4 | 634.7 | 386.9 | 375.9 | 606.1 | 145.6 | 230.4 |
| Minsk City | 1836.8 | 645.9 | 966.0 | 106.1 | 1508.7 | 321.6 | 54.3 |
| Minsk Region | 1422.5 | 987.2 | 390.5 | 553.0 | 796.6 | 127.4 | 343.9 |
| Mogilev Region | 1099.4 | 605.5 | 460.8 | 215.5 | 840.8 | 115.0 | 97.3 |
References
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| | Minority languages | |
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| | Sign languages | |
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| | Sovereign states | |
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| States with limited
recognition | |
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| Dependencies and
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