At the top level of administration, Belarus is divided into six regions and one capital city. The six regions are oblasts (also known as voblastsi), while the city of Minsk has a special status as the capital of Belarus. Minsk also serves as the administrative center of Minsk Region.

At the second level, the regions are divided into districts (raions).

The layout and extent of the regions were set in 1960 when Belarus (then the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic) was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. (cognate of Russian word oblast with prothetic v-) were introduced in 1938. During World War II, Belarus gained territory to the west, with the Baranavichy, Belastok (Białystok), Brest, Pinsk, and Vileyka oblasts. In 1944, Belastok was eliminated and the new oblasts of Babruysk, Grodno, and Polotsk were created. At that same time, Vileika oblast was renamed Molodechno Oblast.

! scope="col" | Area<br/>(km<sup>2</sup>)

! scope="col" | Density

! scope="col" | % of<br/>population

! scope="col" | GDP

! scope="col" | Average monthly gross wage

|-

| 1 || ||colspan="2"| || Минск || Мінск || 1,992,862 || 305.50 || 6,606.48 || 21.44% || US$ 22.6 billion || US$ 953

|-

| 2 || border|45x45px || Brest || Brest || Брестская || Брэсцкая || 1,308,569 || 32,790.68 || 41.11 || 14.32% || US$ 8.4 billion || US$ 639

|-

| 3 || border|45x45px || Gomel || Gomel || Гомельская || Гомельская || 1,338,617 || 40,361.66 || 34.40 || 14.75% || US$ 8.8 billion || US$ 643

|-

| 4 || border|45x45px || Grodno || Grodno || Гродненская || Гродзенская || 992,556 || 25,118.07 || 40.88 || 10.91% || US$ 8.1 billion || US$ 643

|-

| 5 || border|45x45px || Mogilev || Mogilev || Могилёвская || Магілёўская || 981,174 || 29,079.01 || 35.24 || 10.89% || US$ 5.7 billion || US$ 600

|-

| 6 || border|45x45px || Minsk || Minsk || Минская || Мінская || 1,460,289 || 39,912.35 || 36.86 || 15.63% || US$ 14.1 billion || US$ 720

|-

| 7 || border|45x45px || Vitebsk || Vitebsk || Витебская || Вiцебская || 1,081,911 || 40,049.99 || 28.36 || 12.06% || US$ 6.8 billion || US$ 602

|-

| || || Belarus || Minsk ||colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Беларусь || 9,155,978 || 207,617.26 || 45.34 || 100.00% || US$ 74.5 billion || US$ 714

|}

Historical division

See also

  • ISO 3166-2:BY, the ISO codes of the regions of Belarus.
  • List of regions of Belarus by Human Development Index
  • Districts of Belarus, 2nd level subdivision
  • Rural councils of Belarus, 3rd level subdivision

References

  • Interactive map of Belarus
  • Regions (oblasts) of Belarus, The official President's website
  • Geography of Belarus, The official website of Belarus
  • Belarusian regions, towns and villages
  • Current Status of United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names of Belarus