It covers an area of 207,600 square kilometers.

Belarus is bounded in the north and east by Russia, in the south by Ukraine, in the west by Poland and in the northwest by Lithuania and Latvia.

Measured by its territory Belarus ranks 13th in Europe and is roughly the size of Great Britain, Rumania. It stretches from south to north for 560 kilometers (350 miles) and from east to west for 650 kilometers (406 miles).

The largest part of Belarus is a lowland, drained by the Dnepr, the Western Dniva, the Pripyat and the Nieman.

Belarus lies in the zone of mixed forest, which covers a third of its territory. Predominant soils are turf-podzol sand and peat-boggy, land reclamation operations have greatly improved them.

The inalienable part of Belarusian landscape is bogs and swamps, which cover about 13 per cent of the total area and have a large climatic and hydrological significance.