Gomel oblast is home for 1 million 495 thousand people (as of January 1, 2005) with 30 per cent of them living in the rural areas.

The administrative center of the oblast – the town of Gomel – is ranked second in the republic in terms of the quantity of the population (492 thousand) leaving ahead of Minsk.

The manpower resources in the region approximate 920 thousand people. People in the prime working years number 61.3 per cent of the total population. Some 63.2 per cent of the population are industrial workers, the rest – office workers.

Around 118 thousand people have higher education diplomas (including five thousand industrial workers). Some 139 thousand people have specialized secondary education certificates and 115 thousand people – vocation training certificates.

The number of employees working for state-run companies is 374 thousand, other 260 thousand people work in the private sector.

Some 27.5 per cent of the working force is involved in the production, 10.8 per cent – in the agriculture, 12.2 per cent – in trade and public catering and 10.9 per cent – in education.

As for the nationalities living in the region, their pattern is the following:
Belarusians – 84.2 per cent
Russians – 11.0 per cent
Ukrainians – 3.3 per cent
Jews – 0.4 per cent
Poles – 0.2 per cent
Other nationalities – 0.9 per cent