Belarus

Russian

[rus] 1 (National). Statutory national working language (1998, Languages Act, Article 2(1)). 6,978,000 in Belarus, all users. L1 users: 6,670,000 in Belarus (2011 census). Russian [rus] is spoken by most of the population in Belarus as their L1. L2 users: 308,000 (Arefyev 2012). Ethnic population: 785,000 (2009 census).

5 (Dispersed)

English

[eng] 5* (Dispersed). 1,000,000 in Belarus (2020), L2 users.

German, Standard

[deu] 5* (Dispersed). 300,000 in Belarus (2020), L2 users.

5 (Developing)

Romani, Baltic

[rml] 5* (Developing). 12,000 in Belarus (2015 L. Jouve).

6a (Vigorous)

Russian Sign Language

[rsl] 6a (Vigorous). 28,000 in Belarus (2021 DBS/DOOR/SIL). Estimated 19,000–38,000 deaf signers, assuming 0.2%–0.4% of total population.

Yiddish, Eastern

[ydd] 6a* (Vigorous). 7,000 in Belarus (2017).

7 (Shifting)

Belarusian

[bel] 7 (Shifting). Statutory language of national identity (1994, Constitution, Article 17(1)), largely symbolic use. 3,510,000 in Belarus, all users. L1 users: 1,120,000 in Belarus (2009 census), decreasing. The majority of Belarusans speak Russian [rus] as their L1. L2 users: 2,390,000 (2020). Ethnic population: 7,960,000 (2009 census). Total users in all countries: 3,923,450 (as L1: 1,533,450; as L2: 2,390,000).

Unestablished

Erzya

[myv] Unestablished. 2,600 in Belarus.

Korean

[kor] Unestablished. 1,000 in Belarus (2012 census).

Latvian, Standard

[lvs] Unestablished. 1,000 in Belarus.

Polish

[pol] Unestablished. 4,220 in Belarus (2011 census). Most Poles in Belarus speak Belarusan [bel] or Russian [rus] as their L1. Ethnic population: 295,000 (2009 census).

Tatar

[tat] Unestablished. 12,000 in Belarus.

Ukrainian

[ukr] Unestablished. 6,300 in Belarus (2011 census). Most Ukrainians in Belarus speak Russian [rus] as their L1. Ethnic population: 159,000 (2009 census).

Belarus

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