Culture & Identity of Belarus
Introduction
Belarus is a heavily industrialized and urbanized country and the way of life is heavily centered on these two things. Partially due to Soviet rule, the people today generally live in cities as 75% of the population is urbanized.
Nearly half of Belarus's population works in heavy industry with nearly the other half working in services jobs; only about 10% of the people work in agriculture. Most of these jobs are in the cities, where the work day begins with public transportation to work, which generally begins at about 9:00 am and ends at about 6:00 pm. The GDP per capita in Belarus is about $16,000, but there are great differences on what individual jobs pay.
The Soviets also encouraged education and even today the Belarusians place significant importance on education. During the school year, which runs from about September to July, students head to school at about the same time many parents go to work, but school usually ends a bit earlier; again public transportation is the more common form of getting to and from school.