26 January, Minsk /Elena Prus - BELTA/. According to operational data, the population of Belarus as of 1 January 2012 was 9,465.4 thousand people, reported BELTA correspondent Elena Kondratenko, press secretary of the National Statistical Committee. According to the statistical agency, the country's population decreased by 15.8 thousand people in 2011. The number of residents increased only in Minsk over the past year - from 1,864.1 thousand people as of 1 January 2011 to 1,885.1 thousand people as of 1 January 2012. In the other regions of the republic, the number of residents decreased over the past year. As a result, as of 1 January of the current year, the Gomel region had 1,429.8 thousand people, the Minsk region - 1,403.5 thousand, the Brest region - 1,391.5 thousand, the Vitebsk region - 1,214.1 thousand, the Mogilev region - 1,080.1 thousand, and the Grodno region - 1,061.3 thousand people. In Belarus, 109,364 children were born last year - 1,314 more babies compared to 2010. The general birth rate last year for the republic as a whole was 11.5 per 1,000 residents (in 2010 it was 11.4 per mille). Among the regions of the country, this indicator is traditionally highest in the Brest region (12.7 per mille), and lowest in the Vitebsk region (10.2 per mille). Last year, 135,099 people died - 2,033 fewer compared to 2010. The general mortality rate in 2011 for the republic was 14.3 per 1,000 population (in 2010 it was 14.4). Among the regions of the country, this indicator is highest in the Vitebsk region (16.2 per mille), and lowest in Minsk (9.8). Infant mortality (children under 1 year of age) in Belarus decreased from 4.0 per 1,000 live births in 2010 to 3.9 per mille in 2011. -0-

BELTA