Social orientation of Belarus: national experience presented on the international stage

17 april 2026

Rome is hosting the Workshop and the Meeting of the Group of Experts on Measuring Poverty and Inequality.

The Republic of Belarus is represented at the events by the Chairperson of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus Inna Medvedeva and the Head of the Living Standards Statistics and Household Sample Surveys Department Inna Konoshonok.



As part of the meeting, the Chairperson of Belstat shared with the international community the Belarusian experience in reducing the negative impact of inflation on citizens' welfare.

In her speech, Inna Medvedeva stressed that in the Republic of Belarus a key activity of the state is to improve the welfare of the population. "The main measures to mitigate the impact of inflation on living standards are flexible regulation of prices for socially important goods, containment of the growth of mandatory payments for housing and transport services, policies of faster income growth of the population", noted Inna Medvedeva.



The head of Belstat drew attention to the presence that when prices of goods in daily demand rise sharply, the state promptly introduces necessary measures for a certain list of essential goods - from monitoring to setting marginal surcharges and agreeing price increases. "The main task of such regulation is to avoid unnecessary price increases on store shelves, which allows to minimize the impact of external and internal price shocks, smooth sharp fluctuations in market conditions. To assess the effectiveness of containing the growth in prices of goods of daily demand, Belstat calculates an additional indicator of inflation - consumer price index for regulated goods", said Inna Medvedeva. She also pointed out that the role of Belstat is not only in calculating inflation rates, but also noted that Belarusian statisticians are one of the participants in the regulatory process: "So, in addition to recording prices, our recorders monitor changes in the product range on store shelves. In case of the absence of any goods at the time of registration, the relevant public authority shall be promptly informed. This approach ensures that goods remain accessible to all segments of the population."

Another important way of protecting the welfare of the Belarusian population from the impact of inflation is to smooth over the effects of higher tariffs on utilities. "Mitigation of the impact of rising prices for utilities on the population in Belarus is solved by various means - tariffs are raised smoothly, without sharp increases, once or twice a year, and certain categories of citizens are granted benefits. This set of measures has ensured that household spending on housing and utilities is stable. Thus, in 2022‒2025, the share of such expenditures in total consumer spending on average across the republic did not exceed 10 per cent. At the same time, the share of costs for direct utilities and electricity fell by 0.5 percentage points, while for low-income households the reduction was 1.1 percentage points. Similar approaches are applied to the increase in cost of travel in public transport and fuel", noted the Chairperson of Belstat.

Smoothing inflation in Belarus allows the population to plan their budget calmly. "During the last 4 years, the share of household spending on consumption has decreased and the share of investment and saving expenses has steadily increased, which improves their financial situation and living standard in the future", emphasized Inna Medvedeva. She also noted that according to data for 2025, three-quarters of households in the republic indicated the existence of savings.

The Chairperson of Belstat emphasized in her statement that the social orientation of state policy and the developed mechanisms for its implementation have allowed, during the time of sovereign Belarus, to reduce the share of low-income population more than 10 times to the minimum size in the entire history of observations. "In 2025, it amounted to 3.4%", summarized Inna Medvedeva.



At the Workshop on measuring poverty and inequality, Inna Konoshonok spoke on "National Multidimensional Poverty Index as a new tool for assessing quality of life in Belarus", introducing participants to the design and structure of the National Multidimensional Poverty Index, designed by Belstat to take into account the characteristics of the country’s development. However, she noted that Belstat had already begun to develop the National Welfare Index. "If the National Multidimensional Poverty Index aims to measure poverty, the National Welfare Index would provide an aggregate assessment of a population’s standard of living not in terms of poverty but in terms of well-being, and could serve as one tool, reflecting the comprehensive implementation of Agenda 2030 and the National Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Belarus", said Inna Konoshonok.

Participation of Belarusian representatives in international seminars and meetings highlights the desire of the Republic of Belarus to exchange experience and strengthen international cooperation in the field of statistics and social policy.