Belarusian Diaspora

5th Congress of Belarusians of the World in Minsk , 2009

The Belarusian Diaspora is a community of people of Belarusian origin living outside the Republic of Belarus . As of May 16, 2007, over 3.5 million Belarusians lived in foreign countries and there were about 200 public associations in the places of their dense residence ^[1] .

According to various studies, the number of people who make up the Belarusian diaspora is between 2.5 and 3.5 million. This figure includes the descendants of emigrants from the territory of Belarus of the late XIX - early XX century, also emigrants from the Second World War , as well as emigrants from the wave that began in the 1990s. Another group of the Belarusian diaspora is people who migrated inside the USSR , and after its collapse they became residents of other post-Soviet states . A separate group consists of the indigenous Belarusian minorities associated with the Belarusian diaspora, who live on the borders of the Republic of Belarus with Poland , Lithuania and Russia .

A separate group of émigrés from Belarus is formed by Belarusian Jews , who have created significant communities in the United States and Israel .

According to official censuses, there is a tendency to reduce the number of people who identify themselves as Belarusians. The largest and most organized Belarusian diasporas exist in Russia , Ukraine , Poland , the USA, Canada , Great Britain , Lithuania , Latvia and Estonia .

The unification of the Belarusians of the world in Minsk is an international organization that unites people of Belarusian origin from all over the world. Since 1919, the government in exile of the Belarusian People’s Republic has been acting as a center of consolidation for many Belarusians abroad, especially in North America and Western Europe .