Belarus population decreases by almost 19 thousand 2010

MINSK, February 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Belarus' population decreased by
18.900 over the past year.
"As of January 1, of the current year, the country's population is
9,481,100," Belarus' National Statistics Committee /Belstat/ told
Itar-Tass.
Natural population loss made 29,182 /were born 108,123, died 137,305/.
At the same time the migration growth made 10,303 /17,169 came into the
country, and 6,866 left it/, Belstat reports.
The population of the country's capital, Minsk, grew from 1,843,700 to
1,864,100, while the level of population was declining throughout the
country.
The amount of registered marriages declined by 1.5 percent, while
divorces grew by 4.6 percent /472 divorces per a thousand marriages/.
Over the past five years, Belarus' population declined by over five
times.
The country "has integrated negative tendencies of the modern
demographic crisis," experts say. It has become one of the countries where
deaths exceed births. Besides, the demographic situation is affected
strongly by the social and economic aspects, the consequences of the
Chernobyl accident.
Belarus has a new law on demographic security to solve the current
problem and uses state programmes of family support policies.