Editing Demographics of Belarus (section)

== Ethnic groups ==
[[File:COB data Belarus.PNG|350px|right|thumb]]
: [[Belarusians]] 84.9%, [[Russians]] 7.5%, [[Polish people|Poles]] 3.1%, [[Ukrainians]] 1.7%, [[History of the Jews in Belarus|Jews]] 0.1%, [[Armenians]] 0.1%, [[Lipka Tatars]] 0.1%, [[Ruska Roma]] 0.1%, [[Lithuanians]] 0.1%, [[Azerbaijanis]] 0.1%, others 2.2% (2019 census).

===Prior to the Second World War===
Prior to [[World War II]], [[Jews]] were the second largest ethnic group in Belarus, and at 400,000 in the 1926 and 1939 censuses they even exceeded the number of Russians (although admittedly by a small margin).<ref name=prewar>{{cite web|url=http://demoscope.ru/weekly/pril.php#1926|title=Приложение Демоскопа Weekly|website=demoscope.ru}}</ref> Jews accounted for 7%–8% of the total population at that time, comprising more than 40% of the population in cities and towns, where Jews and Poles were the majority, while Belarusians mostly lived in rural areas.

The Poles were the fourth largest ethnic group in Byelorussian SSR (current Eastern portion of Belarus), before World War II, comprising 1–2% of the population in the pre-war censuses (less than 100,000).<ref name=prewar/>

{| class="wikitable"
|+
'''Population of the Byelorussian SSR according to ethnic group 1926–1939'''
|-bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! rowspan="2" | Ethnic<br />group
! colspan="2" | census 1926<sup>1</sup>
! colspan="2" | census 1939<sup>2</sup>
|-bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
|-
| [[Belarusians]]
| align="right" | 4,017,301
| align="right" | 80.6
| align="right" | 4,615,496
| align="right" | 82.9
|-
| [[Jews]]
| align="right" | 407,059
| align="right" | 8.2
| align="right" | 375,092
| align="right" | 6.7
|-
| [[Russians]]
| align="right" | 383,806
| align="right" | 7.7
| align="right" | 364,705
| align="right" | 6.6
|-
| [[Polish people|Poles]]
| align="right" | 97,498
| align="right" | 2.0
| align="right" | 58,380
| align="right" | 1.1
|-
| [[Ukrainians]]
| align="right" | 34,681
| align="right" | 0.7
| align="right" | 104,247
| align="right" | 1.9
|-
| [[Germans]]
| align="right" | 7,075
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 8,448
| align="right" | 0.2
|-
| [[Latvians]]
| align="right" | 14,080
| align="right" | 0.3
| align="right" | 8,117
| align="right" | 0.2
|-
| [[Tatars]]
| align="right" | 3,777
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 7,664
| align="right" | 0.1
|-
| [[Lithuanians]]
| align="right" | 6,864
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 4,284
| align="right" | 0.1
|-
| [[Ruska Roma|Roma]]
| align="right" | 2,366
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 3,632
| align="right" | 0.1
|-
| [[Mordvins]]
| align="right" | 1,051
| align="right" | 0.0
| align="right" | 2,042
| align="right" | 0.0
|-
| Others
| align="right" | 7,682
| align="right" | 0.2
| align="right" | 16,887
| align="right" | 0.3
|-bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! align="left" | Total
! colspan="2" | 4,983,240
! colspan="2" | 5,568,994
|-
| colspan="5" | <small><sup>1</sup> Source: [http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/ussr_nac_26.php]. <sup>2</sup> Source: [http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/ussr_nac_39.php] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121221160751/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/ussr_nac_39.php |date=2012-12-21 }}.  </small>
|}

===After the Second World War===
The [[Holocaust]] decimated the Jewish population in Belarus, and after World War II, in 1959, Jews accounted for only 1.9% of the population. Since then, Jewish emigration to [[Israel]] and other countries reduced the number of Jews to 0.1% of the population (13,000 in 2009).

[[Image:Poles in Belarus 1960.png|thumb|right|Polish minority [[Raion|districts]] in 1960:
{{legend|#960000|Over 50% Polish}}
{{legend|#E50000|40-50%}}
{{legend|#E56100|30-40%}}
{{legend|#E5B800|10-30%}}
{{legend|#B8B8B1|Up to 10% Polish}}
{{legend|#00009E|Border of Poland in 1939}}]]

After the war, a large number of Poles were [[Polish population transfers (1944–1946)|forced to move]] to [[Poland]]. In exchange, Belarusians from the former [[Belastok Region]], which was returned to Poland in 1945, after being occupied in 1939 were displaced to Belarus. Due to changes in the western border of Belarus and Poland after World War II (see [[territorial changes of Poland]]), the number of Poles in Belarus increased to more than 500,000 according to the first post-war census (1959) and to about 400,000 according to the 1999 census. Poles are now the third largest ethnic group in Belarus (see [[Polish minority in Belarus]]). There are around 15,000 of [[Lipka Tatars]] and about 10,000 of [[Ruska Roma]] (Russian Gypsies).

In the post-war period Belarus experienced an influx of workers from other parts of the Soviet Union, for example Russians and Ukrainians. The decade after independence saw a decline in the population of most of these minority groups, either by assimilation or emigration. The most significant exception to this trend has been a continued (if small-scale) net immigration of [[Armenians]] and [[Azerbaijanis]], whose numbers increased from less than 2,000 in 1959 to around 10,000 in 1999.<ref name=census>[http://belstat.gov.by/homep/ru/perepic/p5.php Ethnic composition of the population] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207141941/http://belstat.gov.by/homep/ru/perepic/p5.php |date=February 7, 2009 }}, [[1999 Belarus Census]].</ref>

{|class="whitetable" style="text-align:center"
 |+ Ethnic composition of Belarus according to 2019 census
 | width="23%"|[[File:Belarusians in Belarus (2019).png|center|190px]]
 | width="2%"|
 | width="23%"|[[File:Russians in Belarus (2019).png|center|190px]]
 | width="2%"|
 | width="23%"|[[File:Poles in Belarus (2019).png|center|190px]]
 | width="2%"|
 | width="23%"|[[File:Ukrainians in Belarus (2019).png|center|190px]]
 |-
 |Belarusian
 |
 |Russians
 |
 |Poles
 |
 |Ukrainians
 |}

{|class="whitetable" style="text-align:center"
 |+ Ethnic composition of Belarus according to 2009 census
 | width="23%"|[[File:Belarusians in Belarus 2009.png|center|190px]]
 | width="2%"|
 | width="23%"|[[File:Russians in Belarus 2009.PNG|center|190px]]
 | width="2%"|
 | width="23%"|[[File:Poles in Belarus 2009.PNG|center|190px]]
 | width="2%"|
 | width="23%"|[[File:Ukrainians in Belarus 2009.PNG|center|190px]]
 |-
 |Belarusian
 |
 |Russians
 |
 |Poles
 |
 |Ukrainians
 |}

{| class="wikitable"
|+
'''Population of Belarus according to ethnic group 1959–2019'''
|-bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! rowspan="2" | Ethnic<br />group
! colspan="2" | census 1959<sup>1</sup>
! colspan="2" | census 1970<sup>2</sup>
! colspan="2" | census 1979<sup>3</sup>
! colspan="2" | census 1989<sup>4</sup>
! colspan="2" | census 1999<sup>5</sup>
! colspan="2" | census 2009<sup>6</sup>
! colspan="2" | census 2019<sup>7</sup>
|-bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
|-
| [[Belarusians]]
| align="right" | 6,532,035
| align="right" | 81.1
| align="right" | 7,289,610
| align="right" | 81.0
| align="right" | 7,567,955
| align="right" | 79.4
| align="right" | 7,904,623
| align="right" | 77.9
| align="right" | 8,158,900
| align="right" | 81.2
| align="right" | 7,957,252
| align="right" | 83.7
| align="right" | 7,990,719
| align="right" | 84.9
|-
| [[Russians]]
| align="right" | 659,093
| align="right" | 8.2
| align="right" | 938,161
| align="right" | 10.4
| align="right" | 1,134,117
| align="right" | 11.9
| align="right" | 1,342,099
| align="right" | 13.2
| align="right" | 1,141,700
| align="right" | 11.4
| align="right" | 785,084
| align="right" | 8.3
| align="right" | 706,992
| align="right" | 7.5
|-
| [[Polish people|Poles]]
| align="right" | 538,881
| align="right" | 6.7
| align="right" | 382,600
| align="right" | 4.3
| align="right" | 403,169
| align="right" | 4.2
| align="right" | 417,720
| align="right" | 4.1
| align="right" | 395,700
| align="right" | 3.9
| align="right" | 294,549
| align="right" | 3.1
| align="right" | 287,693
| align="right" | 3.1
|-
| [[Ukrainians]]
| align="right" | 133,061
| align="right" | 1.7
| align="right" | 190,839
| align="right" | 2.1
| align="right" | 230,985
| align="right" | 2.4
| align="right" | 291,008
| align="right" | 2.9
| align="right" | 237,000
| align="right" | 2.4
| align="right" | 158,723
| align="right" | 1.7
| align="right" | 159,656
| align="right" | 1.7
|-
| [[Jews]]
| align="right" | 150,084
| align="right" | 1.9
| align="right" | 148,011
| align="right" | 1.6
| align="right" | 135,450
| align="right" | 1.4
| align="right" | 111,975
| align="right" | 1.1
| align="right" | 27,800
| align="right" | 0.3
| align="right" | 12,926
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 13,705
| align="right" | 0.1
|-
| [[Armenians]]
| align="right" | 1,751
| align="right" | 0.0
| align="right" | 2,362
| align="right" | 0.0
| align="right" | 2,751
| align="right" | 0.0
| align="right" | 4,933
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 10,200
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 8,512
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 9,392
| align="right" | 0.1
|-
| [[Tatars]]
| align="right" | 8,650
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 9,992
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 10,851
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 12,436
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 10,100
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 7,316
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 8,445
| align="right" | 0.1
|-
| [[Romani people|Romani]]
| align="right" | 4,662
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 6,843
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 8,408
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 10,762
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 9,900
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 7,079
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 6,848
| align="right" | 0.1
|-
| [[Azerbaijanis]]
| align="right" | 1,402
| align="right" | 0.0
| align="right" | 1,335
| align="right" | 0.0
| align="right" | 2,654
| align="right" | 0.0
| align="right" | 5,009
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 6,300
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 5,567
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 6,001
| align="right" | 0.1
|-
| [[Lithuanians]]
| align="right" | 8,363
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 8,092
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 6,993
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 7,606
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 6,400
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 5,087
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 5,287
| align="right" | 0.1
|-
| Others
| align="right" | 16,666
| align="right" | 0.2
| align="right" | 24,493
| align="right" | 0.3
| align="right" | 29,183
| align="right" | 0.3
| align="right" | 43,635
| align="right" | 0.4
| align="right" | 41,200
| align="right" | 0.4
| align="right" | 261,712
| align="right" | 2.8
| align="right" | 218,708
| align="right" | 2.3
|-bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! align="left" | Total
! colspan="2" | 8,054,648
! colspan="2" | 9,002,338
! colspan="2" | 9,532,516
! colspan="2" | 10,151,806
! colspan="2" | 10,045,200
! colspan="2" | 9,503,807
! colspan="2" | 9,413,446
|-
| colspan="15" | <small><sup>1</sup> Source: [http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_59.php]. <sup>2</sup> Source: [http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_70.php]. <sup>3</sup> Source: [http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_79.php]. <sup>4</sup> Source: [http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php]. <sup>5</sup> Source: [https://web.archive.org/web/20101101205819/http://belstat.gov.by/homep/en/census/main1.php]. <sup>6</sup> Source: [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706163803/http://belstat.gov.by/homep/en/census/2009/main.php]. <sup>7</sup> Source: [https://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/solialnaya-sfera/naselenie-i-migratsiya/naselenie/statisticheskie-izdaniya/index_17854/].</small>
|}