Brunei Darussalam

Brunei: Hydrocarbon Producer With Minimal Debt and No Governance Series

Brunei Darussalam's economy reached $15.34 billion in gross domestic product for 2024, per World Bank WDI figures, with per-capita output of $33,153.47 the same year against a population of 462,721. Government debt stood at just 1.5 percent of GDP in IMF WEO figures for 2026 — a light fiscal load — and reserves were recorded at $4.41 billion per World Bank WDI data for 2024.

Military posture

SIPRI's Milex data put Brunei's defense spending at $560.27 million for 2024, equivalent to 3.652 percent of GDP on SIPRI's own GDP series for that year — a share derived from SIPRI's national accounts, not the World Bank GDP figure cited above. The Correlates of War National Material Capabilities dataset recorded 7,000 active-duty personnel in 2022, with a Composite Index of National Capability (CINC) score of 0.00022179342 for the same year, a measure that aggregates demographic, industrial and military weight into a single index of relative state power. No V-Dem governance indicators appear in this bundle, so Brunei's standing on electoral competition, liberal constraints on power or state capacity cannot be stated here.

Energy

Primary energy consumption totaled 0.1953 exajoules in 2023, per Our World in Data's energy series, and electricity generation reached 5.56 terawatt-hours in 2024. Oil production was recorded at 56.393 terawatt-hours and gas production at 103.656 terawatt-hours, both for 2024, reflecting Brunei's position as a hydrocarbon producer, with gas output recorded as larger than oil output in the same year's figures. Both production figures carry the same 2024 date as the electricity generation figure, giving this bundle's energy picture a consistent reference year.

Data gaps

No V-Dem electoral democracy, liberal democracy or state capacity indicators appear in this bundle for Brunei, so its governance profile — how competitive its elections are, how constrained executive power is, or how much institutional reach the state has — cannot be assessed here. All other figures in this bundle carry recent dates, running from 2022 for the COW personnel and capability data through 2026 for the IMF debt projection, with no stale series flagged among the economic, military or energy figures supplied.

Sources: World Bank WDI, IMF WEO, SIPRI Milex, COW NMC, Our World in Data (Energy).