Belarus
Republic of Belarus
U.S. sanctions — Belarus sanctions. Broad blocking sanctions on state-owned enterprises, banks, and officials.
As of August 2026 — verify with OFAC and screen counterparties with the xin.bz OFAC search.
- Region
- Europe · Eastern Europe
- Capital
- Minsk
- Population
- 9,085,991 (2025)
- Government
- presidential republic in name, although in fact a dictatorship
- Currency
- Belarusian ruble (BYN)
- Official languages
- Belarusian, Russian
- Spoken languages
- Russian (official) 71.4%, Belarusian (official) 26%, other 0.3% (includes small Polish- and Ukrainian-speaking minorities), unspecified 2.3% (2019 est.)
- Written scripts
- Cyrillic
- Area
- 207,600 km²
- Coastline
- Landlocked
- UN member
- Yes
- Affiliations
- EAEU, IMF, SCO (dialogue member), WCO, WTO (observer)
- Borders
- Latvia , Lithuania , Poland , Russia , Ukraine
Political stability
59 / 100
Economic stability
32 / 100
Population stability
54 / 100
0–100, higher is more stable. Political: World Bank governance score. Economic: government effectiveness, regulatory quality, and inflation proximity to 2% (World Bank). Population: stability of growth and net migration rates (World Bank).
Trade profile
- Key exports
- fertilizers, rapeseed oil, wood, poultry, beef (2023)
- Key imports
- cars, broadcasting equipment, fabric, plastic products, video displays (2023)
- Natural resources
- timber, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay
- Primary route
- Baltic and Black Sea gateways to ocean services
- Secondary route
- Overland EU road and rail corridors
The xin.bz view
- Belarus mined 6M t K2O equivalent of potash in 2025 — fourth in the world — but lost its Klaipeda corridor to sanctions and now depends on Russian rail and ports; the EU bans Belarusian potash while OFAC General License 13 (December 2025) reopens U.S.-side transactions, splitting global trade flows.
xin.bz coverage
El Niño Is Increasing the World's Need for Eurasia — Geopolitics Will Decide What Gets Through
Russia's ~60M t exportable grain, Kazakh wheat and uranium, Belarusian potash, Turkmen gas, and the Middle Corridor — El Niño raises the world's need for Eurasia while geopolitics decides what gets through.
Commodity Deep Dive ·
Potash Is the Potassium Backbone of Global Agriculture — and Its Supply Is Concentrated in a Handful of Countries
Potash (potassium chloride/MOP) deep dive — Canada, Russia, China, and Belarus at 76% of mine output, the rail-and-port chokepoints, storage, price history, and why potassium is agriculture's irreplaceable nutrient.
Commodity Deep Dive ·
Fertilizer Converts Energy and Mined Minerals Into Crop Yield — and Its Supply Chain Has Become a Strategic Chokepoint
Fertilizer deep dive — 216M t of nutrients produced against 197M t used, nitrogen tied to natural gas, Hormuz choking a third of urea trade, and why N, P, and K are irreplaceable in plant nutrition.
Trade research
- WTO trade profile — tariffs, trade in goods and services, top partners
- World Bank country data — GDP, trade share of GDP, logistics indicators
- OEC trade profile — export/import composition and partners, visualized
- ITC Trade Map — detailed trade statistics by product (ITC/UN Comtrade)
- CIA World Factbook — geography, economy, transportation infrastructure
xin.bz can watch Belarus for you — email alerts when new disruptions hit. Start free
Sources: mledoze/countries (ODbL), CIA World Factbook (public domain), World Bank Open Data (CC BY-4.0), flag-icons (MIT). Stability scores are xin.bz composites of the cited World Bank indicators; routes and commodity notes are xin.bz assessments. Informational only — verify with official sources.