Belarus

Belarus: Country Intelligence Briefing

Belarus's fact bundle shows a lower-middle-income European economy with moderate government debt, a governance profile V-Dem v15 scores very low across all three measures, and energy-production figures that are a decade stale.

Economy and Fiscal Position

GDP was $76.0 billion in 2024, with GDP per capita of $8,317.63 the same year, both per World Bank WDI. Population was 9,132,629 in 2024, per World Bank WDI. Government debt stood at 33.1 percent of GDP in 2026, per IMF WEO, and reserves were $7.0 billion in 2025, per IMF IFS.

Defense Posture

Military expenditure was $1.94 billion in 2025, per SIPRI Milex, equivalent to 2.397 percent of GDP under SIPRI's own GDP series for 2025 — a ratio that should not be checked against the separately sourced World Bank GDP figure above. Active personnel stood at 48,000 in 2022, per COW NMC, with a CINC score of 0.0014165612 the same year, also per COW NMC.

Governance

V-Dem v15 scores Belarus's electoral democracy at 0.163, liberal democracy at 0.038, and state capacity at 0.116, all for 2025 — the liberal democracy and state capacity scores are among the lowest figures of their kind in this briefing series.

Energy

Primary energy consumption was 1.1292 exajoules in 2024, and electricity generation was 46.37 terawatt-hours in 2025, both per Our World in Data (Energy). Oil production was 20.622 terawatt-hours and gas production was 0.236 terawatt-hours, both dated 2016, per Our World in Data (Energy) — nearly a decade old and should not be treated as describing current production.

Data Gaps

Both oil and gas production figures are nine years stale; no more recent production data is available in this bundle, and they should be read as historical reference points rather than current figures. The active-personnel and CINC figures are from 2022. The milex-to-GDP ratio uses SIPRI's own 2025 GDP denominator, distinct from the World Bank's 2024 GDP figure cited above, and the two should not be combined.

Sources: World Bank WDI; IMF WEO; IMF IFS; SIPRI Milex; COW NMC; V-Dem v15; Our World in Data (Energy).