General State of the Economy

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a country in Eastern Europe. The country borders by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest.

Belarus / Republic of Belarus
Capital: Minsk	Density: 45/km²	Currency: Belarusian ruble (BYN)
Official languages: Belarusian, Russian	Life expectancy at birth: 73.11 years	GDP (PPP): $282.353 billion (2023)
National Day: 03 July	Land area: 202,990 km²	GDP - per capita (PPP): $30,763 (2023)
Population: 9,056,696 (2025)	Coastline: 0 km	Internet country code: .be

Source: [1,2,3,4,5]

According to 2025 statistics, Belarus is home to about 9 million people. In terms of population density the country is 172^nd in the world out of 242 countries considered. The national capital and largest city is Minsk. The political form of government is a presidential republic with a bicameral parliament [1,2,3].

Sunset over central district Nemiga in Minsk, Belarus. Reflectio. Envato Elements. Z8WQBS45UP

The ranking positions of Belarus relative to other countries have been determined for an extensive list of economic, energy, innovative and educational indices, as well as for metrics reflecting the state of the environment. The economic indices include, for example, GDP per capita, annual average GDP growth, high-technology exports, and others. The list of energy indices includes proven reserves of oil, gas and coal, production-consumption ratio combined, and energy use, etc. Each of the indices has a ranked list of included member countries. Since the number of countries in each rating is different for each index, the positioning of the country of interest is displayed on a special chart, where the vertical axis is a uniform relative scale from 0 to 1, whereas the horizontal axis denominates the various indices and respective numbers relating to the descriptions given underneath.
Thus, in such a relative “0-1” diagram, the country’s position is marked with a dot in proportion to its location in the original rating list. If the country is among the leaders regarding the selected indicator, it will be marked close to 1 in the upper green zone on the relevant chart “0-1”, if the country is an outsider in the rating list, then it will be marked in the lower red zone of the chart “0-1”, etc. A single list of indices is used for all countries. If a country is not in the ranking list for any index, then the corresponding position on the charts is not displayed.
Ranking position of Belarus for list of economic indices:

Sources:
1. GDP (purchasing power parity), 2020 est. / The World Factbook/Library/Central Intelligence Agency *228
2. GDP - per capita (PPP), 2020 / The World Factbook/Library/Central Intelligence Agency *229
3. Inflation rate (consumer prices), 2019 est. / The World Factbook/Library/Central Intelligence Agency *228
4. Charges for the use of intellectual property, receipts (BoP, current US$), 2020 / International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook, and data files. / License: CC BY-4.0 *88
5. The Global Competitiveness Index 2019 / Rankings / Reports / World Economic Forum *141
6. High-technology exports (current US$) 2019-2020 / United Nations, Comtrade database through the WITS platform / License: CCBY-4.0 / Data *134
7. 2021 Index of Economic Freedom / International Economies / The Heritage Foundation *178
8. Reserves of foreign exchange and gold, 2017 est. / The World Factbook / Library / Central Intelligence Agency *195
9. Annual average GDP growth in %, for the last 10 years (2011-2020) / World Bank national accounts data, and OECD National Accounts data files / License: CC BY-4.0 *206
10. Public debt (% of GDP), 2017 est. / The World Factbook / Library / Central Intelligence Agency (from smallest to largest) *210
* Total number of countries participating in ranking

Figure 1. Economic Indices of Belarus

For most of the economic indicators shown in the chart, Belarus is above the middle of the ranking lists. The weakest spots in Belarusian economic indicators are Inflation rate (0.17) and Annual average GDP growth in % (0.24). Belarus has the best indices among those presented for GDP (purchasing power parity) (0.69), GDP - per capita (PPP) (0.61), and High-technology exports (0.60).

Energy Resources

In the southern part of the country, around Mozir and Gomel there are insignificant deposits of oil and natural gas, which makes 0.012% and 0.0015% of the world’s total, respectively. In addition, Belarus has some oil shale reserves, evaluated at 6 988 million barrels.
In terms of tons of oil equivalent, according to 2024 data, conventional proved reserves were represented to 91.4% by coal, and natural gas – 8.6% (Fig.5).

Table 1. Fossil energy resources of Belarus

Resource /Explanations	Crude oil*	Natural gas*	Coal	Shale Gas	Tight Oil	Oil Shale
Value	0.20 (0.012%)	0.1 (0.0015%)	-	-	-	7
Unit	billion barrels	Tcf	-	-	-	billion barrels
Year	2021	2021	-	-	-	2008
Source	[6]	[6]	[-]	[-]	[-]	[7]

*share of the country’s reserves in world total is provided in brackets

Due to its geographical location, Belarus has a vdiverse range of renewable energy resources. A selection of basic indicators for this type of resource is presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Renewable energy resources of Belarus

Resource/ explanations	Solar Potential (GHI)*	Wind Potential (50 м)*	Bio Potential (agricultural area)	Bio Potential (forest area)	Municipal Solid Waste
Value	< 3.0	< 5.5	39.9	43.3	1.22
Unit	kWh/m²/day	m/s	% of land area	% of land area	kg/per capita/day
Year	2022	2022	2022	2022	2016
Source	[8]	[9]	[10]	[11]	[12]

*for most of the territory of the country

The level of global horizontal radiation across most of the country is < 3.0 kWh/m²/day, reaching a maximum level of 3.0-3.1 kWh/m²/day in the south and southeast of the country [8]. The distribution of wind resources is as follows: across most of the country the wind speed does not exceed 5.5 m/s, but at 50 m the most common wind speed is 6.5 - 7.0 m/s distributed in some areas of country [9]. About 39.9% of Belarus is covered by agricultural land, and about 43.3% is forested [10.11]. The level of municipal waste generation in Belarus is 1.2 kg per person per day. This resource is a valuable raw material for recycling or energy production.

BELARUS, SLUTSK
Latitüde: 53.03, Longitude: 27.55

Average daily sky coverage over 10 years of observations, %

CLR - clear, SCT - scattered from 1/8 TO 4/8, BKN - broken from 5/8 TO 7/8, OVC - overcast, OBS - obscured, POB - partial obscuration

Source: based on NOAA U.S. Department of Commerce
Detailed information: Interactive map of solar resources

BELARUS, SLUTSK
Latitüde: 53.03, Longitude: 27.55
Average speed: 3.07 m/s Operational share: 53%

Average daily wind speed for 10 years of observations, m/s, 10 m above the groundSource: based on NOAA U.S. Department of Commerce
Detailed information: Interactive map of wind resources

Energy Balance

According to [6], in 2023 in Belarus, the total production of primary energy was 0.195 quadrillion Btu, while consumption was at the level of 0.956 quadrillion Btu. Thus, the share of domestic production in primary energy consumption was about 20.4%. This makes Belarus a country dependent on energy imports.
According to the Statistical Review of World Energy 2024, total primary energy consumption in Belarus was 1.07 Exajoules, about 57.1% of which was from natural gas, almost 28.0% from oil, 10.3% from nuclear energy, 3.7% from coal, and 0.9% from other renewables [13].

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (Sep 2024) / www.eia.gov

Figure 2. The Production and consumption of fossil fuels in Belarus (coal – left, gas – in the center, oil – right)

As can be seen from the graph above, Belarus consumption of natural gas and crude oil far exceeds its low production. Thus, in 2023, oil consumption is 4 times higher than domestic production, and the demand for natural gas is 200 times higher than the country's internal capacity. Gas imports in 2023 amounted to 545 Bcf [6]. Coal consumption shows volatile growth, amounting to 727 thousand short tons in 2023 (Figure 2).

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (Sep 2024) / www.eia.gov

Figure 3. Electricity production in Belarus

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Belarus produced 43.59 TWh of electricity in 2023, where fossil fuels accounted for 70.0%, nuclear power – 26.9%, renewables – 2.2%, and hydropower 0.9% (Fig.6).
Belarus’s position in the comparative diagram of energy index is shown in Figure 4.

Sources:
1. Crude oil proved reserves, 2021 / International Energy Statistic/Geography / U.S. Energy Information Administration (Nov 2021)*98
2. Natural gas proved reserves 2021 / International Energy Statistic / Geography / U.S. Energy Information Administration (Nov 2021) *99
3. Total recoverable coal reserves 2019 / International Energy Statistic / Geography / U.S. Energy Information Administration (Nov 2021) *81
4. Combination production-consumption for Crude oil 2018 / International Energy Statistic / Geography / U.S. Energy Information Administration (Nov 2021) *219
5. Combination production-consumption for Natural gas 2019 / International Energy Statistic / Geography / U.S. Energy Information Administration (Nov 2021) *123
6. Combination production-consumption for Coal 2019 / International Energy Statistic / Geography / U.S. Energy Information Administration (Nov 2021) *128
7. Electricity – from other renewable sources (% of total installed capacity), 2017 est. / The World Factbook / Library / Central Intelligence Agency *170
8. GDP per unit of energy use (PPP per unit of oil equivalent), 2020 *66
Primary energy consumption - BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021/BP;GDP (purchasing power parity) - The World Factbook/Library/Central Intelligence Agency
9. Energy use (primary energy use of oil equivalent per capita) 2020 *127
Primary energy consumption – BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021; Population - United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
Population Division (2019). World Population Prospects 2019, custom data acquired via website. Retrieved 15 November 2021*66
10. The Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report (EAPI) 2017 / Rankings / Reports / World Economic Forum
11. Electric power consumption (kWh per capita), 2016 *217
Electricity Consumption - The World Factbook / Library / Central Intelligence Agency; Population - United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
Population Division (2019). World Population Prospects 2019, custom data acquired via website. Retrieved 15 November 2021
12. Combination of electricity production-consumption (kWh)/The World Factbook/Library/Central Intelligence Agency *216
* Total number of countries participating in ranking

Figure 4. Energy indices of Belarus

Since Belarus does not have significant fossil fuel reserves, the country's rankings for crude oil (0.43), natural gas (0.06) and coal are the lowest of those presented in the chart above. Consequently, Belarus has a relatively low ratio of the Combined production-consumption for oil (0.23), natural gas (0.1) and coal (0.37). The strongest indicators reflected on the graph are Energy use (0.48) and Electric power consumption (kWh per capita (0.62).

Energy Infrastructure

A territorial map showing the distribution of the largest infrastructure projects of the fossil fuel sector in Belarus is shown in Figure 5. Oil deposits in Belarus are in a single oil and gas basin, Pripyat.
There are two large oil refineries in Belarus: JSC «NAFTAN» and JSC «Mozyr Oil Refinery» with total refining capacity of more than 20 mln. tonnes of crude oil per year [14,15].

Figure 5. Basic infrastructural facilities of the fossil fuel sector in Belarus (click on the map to view a PDF version)

Transportation of crude oil and natural gas is carried out via pipelines with a length of 1589 km and 5386 km, respectively (Fig.5). Infrastructure conventional natural gas includes three operating underground gas storages and six compressor stations.

Figure 6. Electricity production in Belarus (click on the map to view a PDF version)

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the share of fossil fuels in electricity generation in Belarus was about 96.9% in 2023 (Fig. 6).
Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant located in the Astravyets District, Grodno Region in north-western Belarus [16]. Country has a significant number of stations to produce of electricity from hydrocarbons, including four gas power stations with an installed capacity of at least 100 MW, six combined power plants with an installed capacity of at least 100 MW (Fig. 6).

OSTROVEC, BELARUS - JULY 2020: Cooling towers of nuclear power plant against the blue sky. Envato Elements. 7MXGLWNS5P

Hydropower in Belarus accounts for a small share of electricity generation (0.9%) and is represented by 49 small scale hydro-power plants up to 10 MW with a total installed capacity of 17.3 MW (Figure 6).
Figure 7 shows the main infrastructure facilities in Belarus for generating of renewable energy.

Figure 7. Renewable energy in Belarus (click on the map to view a PDF version)

As noted above, renewable energy (excluding hydroenergy) in Belarus accounts for 2.2% (0.95 TWh) of electricity generation (Fig. 6).
In zones of high wind activity there are 7 wind parks. In 2023 the total installed capacity of wind power in Belarus was 120 MW. The largest wind park is Drybin with an installed capacity of 120 MW [17].

Windmills in summer in a green field.large. Belarus. Envato Elements. XWZ6LCNTK8

As mentioned earlier, the level of solar radiation in some areas of the country can reach 3.0-3.1 kWh/m², which is a sufficient resource for electricity production by means of photovoltaics [7]. Consequently, there is a significant number of solar energy facilities, including nine photovoltaic stations with a capacity of more than 1.5 MW. The largest solar plant Cherikov has an installed capacity of 109 MW [18].
Bioenergy is being actively developed in Belarus and, in 2023 bioenergy had an installed capacity of around 0.14 GW (Fig.7). The country has biomass and municipal garbage processing plants; biogas, biodiesel, bioethanol, pellet and landfill gas production.
According to the "National Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Belarus for the period up to 2040" by the Ministry of Economy of the country the share of primary energy production from renewable energy sources in the total fuel and energy consumption is projected to reach 9.5% by in 2040 (8.7% in 2023) [19].

Education and Innovation

The following chart shows Belarus's positions in terms of education and innovation:

Sources:
1. The Global Innovation Index 2021, Rankings / Knowledge / World Intellectual Property Organization / Cornell University, INSEAD, and WIPO (2021):
Energizing the World with Innovation. Ithaca, Fontainebleau, and Geneva *132
2. Patent Grants 2011-2020, resident & abroad / Statistical country profiles / World Intellectual Property Organization *185
3.Patents in Force 2020 / Statistical country profiles / World Intellectual Property Organization *109
4. QS World University Rankings 2022 *97
5. SCImago Country Rankings (1996-2020) / Country rankings / SCImago, (n.d.). SIR-SCImago Journal & Country Rank [Portal]. Retrieved 17 Nov 2021 *240
6. Internet users in 2018 / The World Factbook / Central Intelligence Agency *229
7. Internet users in 2018 (% Population) / The World Factbook / Central Intelligence Agency *229
8. Government expenditure on education, total (% of GDP), 2019 / United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics.
License: CCBY-4.0 / Data as of September 2021*177
9. Research and development expenditure (% of GDP), 2018 / UNESCO Institute for Statistics. License: CCBY-4.0 / Data *119
10. Scientific and technical journal articles, 2018 / National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators. License: CCBY-4.0 / Data *197
* Total number of countries participating in ranking

Figure 8. The indices of education and innovation in Belarus

The majority indices describing the country‘s positioning in the various international rankings related to education and innovation are above average. The lowest spot in the country is the QS World University Rankings (0.34) and Patents in Force (0.38). Belarus has the highest position of those presented for Patent Grants (0.83) and SCImago Country Rankings (0.73).

Top view of the National library in Minsk-the capital of the Republic of Belarus, a public building. Envato Elements. 5329WN8FMT

Ecology and Environment Protection

Indicators related to environmental issues are presented in the following diagram:

Sources:
1. CO2 total emission by countries 2020 / European Commission / Joint Research Centre (JRC) / Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR)*208
2. CO2 per capita emission 2020/European Commission/Joint Research Centre (JRC) / Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) *208
3. Forest area 2020 (% of land area) / The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 / Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations *234
4. Forest area change 2010-2020 (1000 ha/year) / The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 / Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations *234
5. The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2020 / Rankings / Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy / Yale University *180
6. Annual freshwater withdrawals (m3 per capita), 2017 *179
Annual freshwater withdrawals, total (billion m3), 2017 – Food and Agriculture Organization, AQUASTAT data. /License: CC BY-4.0;
Population – United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019).
World Population Prospects 2019, custom data acquired via website. Retrieved 15 November 2021
7. The National Footprint Accounts 2017 (Biocapacity Credit / Deficit) / Global Footprint Network *188
8. Methane emissions (kt of CO2 equivalent), 2018 / Data for up to 1990 are sourced from Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Environmental Sciences Division,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, United States. Data from 1990 are CAIT data: Climate Watch. 2020. GHG Emissions. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute.
Available at: License : Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) *191
9. The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2022 / Overall Results / Jan Burck, Thea Uhlich, Christoph Bals, Niklas Höhne, Leonardo Nascimento /
Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute & Climate Action Network *60
* Total number of countries participating in ranking

Figure 9. Environmental Indices of Belarus

Belarus belongs to the group of countries with high carbon dioxide emissions – in total (0.25) and per capita (0.25). This fact is partly responsible for its low ranking in the Climate Change Performance Index (0.25). On the other hand, among positive indicators, there is a clear upward trend in the forested areas (0.9) and The Environmental Performance Index (0.73).

References

[1] List of sovereign states and dependencies by area / Wikipedia / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_area
[2] List of countries and dependencies by population density / Wikipedia / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density
[3] Belarus / The world factbook / Library / Central Intelligence Agency / www.cia.gov
[4] GDP, PPP (current international $) / World Bank, International Comparison Program database. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org
[5] GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) / World Bank, International Comparison Program database. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org
[6] Belarus / International Energy Statistic / Geography / U.S. Energy Information Administration / www.eia.gov/beta/international/
[7] World Shale Resource Assessments / U.S. Energy Information Administration (September 24, 2015) / https://www.eia.gov/
[8] Solar resource data obtained from the Global Solar Atlas, owned by the World Bank Group and provided by Solargis / Global Solar Atlas / globalsolaratlas.info
[9] Belarus Wind Map / Global Wind Atlas 2.0, a free, web-based application developed, owned and operated by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in partnership with the World Bank Group, utilizing data provided by Vortex, with funding provided by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). For additional information: globalwindatlas.info
[10] Agricultural land (% of land area) / Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org
[11] Forest area (% of land area) / Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org
[12] What a Waste 2.0 / Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / http://www.worldbank.org
[13] Statistical Review of World Energy 2024 (PDF) / www.energyinst.org
[14] Naftan Oil Refinery / Wikipedia / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naftan_Oil_Refinery
[15] Mozyr Oil Refinery / Wikipedia / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozyr_Oil_Refinery
[16] Astravets Nuclear Power Plant / Wikipedia / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astravets_Nuclear_Power_Plant
[17] Могилевская область остается лидером ветроэнергетики в стране / Департамент энергоэффективности Государственного комитета по стандартизации Республики Беларусь/ https://energoeffect.gov.by/news/news_2021/20210616_news1
[18] Cherikov solar farm / Global Energy Monitor / https://www.gem.wiki/Cherikov_solar_farm
[19] Проект Национальной стратегии устойчивого развития Республики Беларусь на период до 2040 года / МИНИСТЕРСТВО ЭКОНОМИКИ РЕСПУБЛИКИ БЕЛАРУСЬ / https://economy.gov.by/uploads/files/NSUR/proekt-Natsionalnoj-strategii-ustojchivogo-razvitija-na-period-do-2040-goda.pdf

The sources of charts and curves are specified under the images.

For more information about the energy industry in Belarus see here

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