Brest Region


Brest Region or Brest Voblast or Brest Oblast is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center is Brest.
Important cities within the region include: Brest, Baranavichy, and Pinsk.

Geography

It is located in the southwestern part of Belarus, bordering the Podlasie and Lublin voivodeships of Poland on the west, the Volyn Oblast and Rivne Oblast of Ukraine on the south, the Grodno Region and Minsk Region on the north, and Gomel Region on the east. The region covers a total area of 32,800 km², about 15,7% of the national total.
Kamenets District of Brest Region in few kilometers to the South-West from Vysokaye town on the Bug River the western extreme point of Belarus is situated. 2,7% of the territory are covered with Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park, 9,8% are covered with 17 wildlife preserves of national importance.
It is often dubbed the Western gateway to Belarus. Geographically, the Brest Region belongs to the area known as Polesia. The area of the region was part of the Second Polish Republic from 1921 until 1939 largely as the Polesie Voivodeship, when it was joined to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Northeastern part of it was administrated as part of Nowogrodek Voivodeship.

Demographics

The Brest Region has a population of 1,380,391, about 14,7% of the national total. About 47.2% of the region's population are men, and the remaining 52.8% are women. Number of inhabitants per 1 km2 is 43. Share of urban population is increasing continuously since the 1950s.
Of the major nationalities living in the Brest Region, 1,262,600 are Belarusians, 128,700 are Russians, 57,100 are Ukrainians, and 27,100 are Poles. 53.7% of the population speak Belarusian and 42.6% speak Russian as their native language.
Brest is the province with the highest birth rate in all of Belarus. As of 2008, the birth rate was 12.0 per 1000 and death rate was 13.4 per 1000. In 2017, 12.4% of live births were to unmarried women.
As of 2018, share of the population under working age was 19.3%, of working age — 55.7%, over working age — 25%.
In 2015—2017, the region had a positive net migration rate for international migration and negative — for internal migration. In 2017, 6,944 people which departed from the Brest Region arrived in Minsk, 2,219 — in the Minsk Region, 2,118 — in the Hrodna Region, less than 1,000 — in every other region.
Year193919501955196019651970197519801985
Population 1,208.91,186.21,1421,191.51,234.41,292.81,332.81,3671,407.5
Year199019952000200520062007200820092010
Population 1,460.51,497.41,481.91,439.31,426.81,417.81,409.71,404.51,399.2
Year201120122013201420152016201720182019
Population 1,394.81,391.41,390.41,388.51,388.91,387.01,386.41,384.51,380.4

Birth & death rates19501960197019801985199019952000200520102011201220132014201520162017
Birth rate26.325.517.416.817.11511.310.810.412.212.713.113.213.413.513.511.8
Death rate96.97.69.910.610.512.512.714.214.314.213.11312.612.712.612.8

Life expectancy
at birth		19901995200020052010201520162017
Overall7269.569.869.370.974.274.574.4
female76.374.975.675.77778.979.479.3
male67.364.464.263.365.169.269.469.4

Marriages and divorces195019601970198019901995200020052010201520162017
Marriages 11,74311,61311,63913,36614,02911,3869,45310,66011,06011,1559,0169,123
Marriages 109.799.79.67.66.47.47.986.56.6
Divorces 2028201,8863,1933,5024,7585,3433,8264,7624,2524,1864,108
Divorces 0.20.71.52.32.43.23.62.73.43.133

Administrative territorial entities

The region was formed in 1939 after reunification of Western Belarus and the Byelorussian SSR. Today it comprises 16 districts, 225 rural councils, 20 cities, 5 city municipalities, 9 urban-type settlements, and 2178 villages.

Districts of Brest Region

The sixteen raions of the Brest Region are:

Cities and towns

Tourism

There are about 70 travel agencies in Brest Region, most of them provide both agent and operator activities. Main tourist attractions in the region are Belovezhskaya Puscha and Brest Fortress.

Economy

As of 2017, the industrial output of the region amounted to BYN 10,578 million, or 11.2% of the Belarusian industrial output.
Food industry is the leading economy sphere in the region. The biggest industrial plants in the region are "Savushkin produkt", "Santa Bremor", Brestgazoapparat, "Pinskdrev" in Pinsk, "Polesie" in Kobryn. Other major factories are machine tool plant "Atlant", cotton factory, military jet fighters repair plant, sugar plant in Zhabinka, "Polesie" textile and garment factory in Pinsk, "Ivacevichidrev" wood products plant in Ivacevichi, "Granite" quarry in Mikashevichi, "Belsolod" malt factory in Ivanava.
Food factories in the region produced 153.9 thousand tons of meat and offal in 2017, 90 thousand tons of sausage products, 29.7 thousand tons of meat semi-finished products, 71.8 tons of fish and semi-finished products, 551.9 thousand tons of whole milk products, 47.2 thousand tons of cottage cheese, 66.1 thousand tons of cheese, 21.3 thousand tons of butter, 108.2 thousand tons of flour, 2.5 million decalitres of beer and 4.3 million decalitres of distilled alcoholic beverages. Textile and garment factories produced 56,361 thousand m2 of fabrics in 2017, 994 thousand m2 of carpets, 5.9 million pieces of all types of knitwear, 1.9 million pieces of outerwear, 28.4 million pairs of socks and similar hosiery, 623 thousand shoes. Electrical plants in the region produced 242.2 thousand electric engines, 4800 transformers, 899 thousand lamps. Brest lamp factory is producing incandescent light bulbs, 2 factories are engaged in production of diodes and printed circuit boards.
Byarozaŭskaja thermal power plant in Byaroza District is one of the biggest power plants in Belarus. As of 2018, it had 4 power generating units with combined cycle gas turbines.
As of 2017, total cultivated area in the region was 930,000 hectares, including 844,400 hectares of land used by agricultural organizations, 17,900 hectares — by the registered farmers, and 67,700 hectares — by personal farms of the population. 383,800 hectares of fields were used to grow cereals, 52,800 — rapeseeds, 21,800 — sugar beets, 5,700 — flax, 56,300 — potatoes, 12,700 — vegetables, 392,800 — feed crops. Big agricultural organizations harvest almost all cereals, flax, sugar beets, rapeseeds and feed crops, while farmers harvest more than 90% of potatoes and vegetables. Average cereal yield in the region in 2017 was 3,480 kg per hectare, sugar beet yield — 43,900 kg per hectare, flax fiber yield — 1,160 kg per hectare. Due to warm mild climate and personal activity, the region leads in the production of many fruits, vegetables and berries in Belarus. Several villages are widely known as a "cucumber capital", "strawberry capital", "carrot capital", etc.
As of 2018, agricultural organizations and farmers kept 861,600 cattle, 491,100 pigs, 10,000 horses, 19,500 sheep, 7,605,000 poultry. In 2017, all types of farms in the region produced 218,700 tons of livestock and poultry meat, 1,605,000 tons of milk and 606.8 million eggs.