MINSK, 26 January (BelTA) – As of 1 January 2016 Belarus' population stood at 9,498,700, up 17,873 people from the early 2015, BelTA learned from representatives of the National Statistics Committee of Belarus.
In 2015 natural population decline amounted to 621 people, down 4.8 times as compared with a year earlier. In 2015, 119,500 babies were born (up 0.8%); 120,100 people died (down 1.2%).
Migration into the country remains the key factor behind the rising population numbers in Belarus. In 2015 Belarus welcomed 18,494 migrants, up 1.2 times from last year (by 2,772 people). Belarus has migration exchange mainly with the CIS countries. Last year Belarus welcomed 22,505 people from these countries, with 88.8% of them coming from Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. Likewise, people who left Belarus mainly went to the CIS countries. Their share in the total number of people who moved out of Belarus amounted to 67.8%, with 76.9% moving to Russia.
In 2015 the number of marriages dropped by 2.3%, with the number of divorces down by 5.4%.
