Economy of Belarus
The Republic of Belarus is an export-oriented country with well-developed manufacturing industry, services sector and agriculture. Belarus adheres to the concept of a socially-oriented market economy, which has proved its viability and efficiency.
Overall, in 2010-2020, the country's GDP expanded by 18.3% in comparable prices, with productivity growing by 28.2% over the period.
Gross domestic product per capita based on purchasing power parity increased from $15,400 in 2010 to $20,100 in 2019.
Major social and economic indicators
GDP, Br million (2011-2015 - with account of redenomination of 2016).
2023 - preliminary data.
Foreign trade in goods and services, USD billion.
Industrial output, Br million (2011-2015 - with account of redenomination of 2016).
Agricultural output, Br million (2011-2015 - with account of redenomination of 2016)
Development priorities
Improving the quality of life through economic competitiveness, investment and innovative development is the country’s main goal enshrined in the five-year program for 2016-2020.
To achieve this goal, Belarus has outlined the priorities in the context of current global trends. The country has concentrated all internal and external resources and engaged the entire vertical of power in the effort to meet these priorities.
These priorities include investment as a source of technological upgrade of major industries and development of new innovative sectors of the economy; new high-productive jobs as a means to harness labor potential and ensure social stability; export as the major area of focus to ensure balanced economic development.
Major drivers of competitiveness are innovative development, financial improvement of the real economy, reduction of all kinds of costs, increasing the contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises. All this is also directly related to the priorities of the current five-year period, namely “informatization” and “youth”.
Belarus' positions in international rankings
In 2019, the Republic of Belarus improved its positions in a number of international rankings, which are important indicators of the country's development in certain areas for foreign investors and creditors.
Belarus has made great progress in sustainable development which is evidenced by the country’s high positions on the SDG Index and Dashboards Report prepared by Bertelsmann Stiftung International Foundation and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Belarus ranked 34th (76.00 points out of 100) and received an above-average rating for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (the ranking covered 166 countries and used about 100 indicators to measure the progress towards the SDGs).
On the Human Development Index, which is a well-recognized tool for comparing the living standards in different countries, Belarus ranks 60th out of 191 countries and is in top tier of countries with the very high level of human development, according to the UN classification.
Belarus goes 78th (out of 167 countries) in the Legatum Prosperity Index 2013. Belarus ranks 29th on education and 43rd on living conditions. The country's position on economic quality was 45th.
Belarusian State University is in the top 25 on the QS University Rankings 2022 for Emerging Europe and Central Asia. The study ranks more than 2,500 universities based on six indicators: research, quality of teaching, employers’ opinion and career potential, the number of international students and teachers.
Belarus was ranked 58th out of 193 nations on the United Nations E-Government Survey 2022.
On the E-Participation index, which assesses the engagement and collaboration between governments and citizens, Belarus was 90th in 2022.