This report documents fertility data for Belarus collected for the Human Fertility Database (HFD),
including age- and birth order- specific data on births, data on births by calendar month, and
data on the distribution of women by age and number of live-born children. The data provided for
the HFD are collected by the official statistical agency of Belarus (National Statistical committee
of the Republic of Belarus), which is responsible for the collection, processing, and
dissemination of population data for Belarus.
The establishment of official Belarusian statistics occurred in August 1920 when the Central
Statistical Bureau began operating (Belstat, 2014a). Until the demise of the Soviet Union, the
Central Statistical Bureau of Belarus functioned as a regional subdivision of the Central
Statistical Office of the USSR (the Tsentralnoe Statisticheskoe Upravlenie, or TsSU). After
Belarus obtained independence in 1991, the main responsibility for population statistics was
assigned to the State Committee of Statistics and Analysis of the Republic of Belarus
(Goskomstat). In 1994, it was reorganized into the Ministry of Statistics and Analysis of the
Republic of Belarus (Minstat). In 2008, Minstat was reorganized into the National Statistical
Committee of Belarus (Belstat).