BELARUS IN INTERNATIONAL RATINGS

AND DOMESTIC STATISTICS

November 2015

According to the National Statistics Committee, in January-

October 2015 (compared to the same period of the previous year):

• the GDP volume at constant prices dropped by 3.9%,

• the index of industrial production amounted to 92.9%,

• the volume of agricultural production at constant prices decreased by

3.9%,

• the commissioning of housing from all funding sources amounted to

100.7%

As of October 1, 2015, the population of the Republic of Belarus

comprised 9 494.2 thousand people. It has increased by 13 335 people

compared to the beginning of 2015.

Belarus took 44th place in the Doing Business rating 2016. These

are recent studies of the World Bank. The position of Belarus

is one of the strongest among the CIS members.

Only Kazakhstan (41st) and Armenia (35th) have

higher positions in the rating, Russia is back by

7 positions. A total of 189 countries were

represented on the list.

This year Singapore remains leader among

the countries with the most favorable business

conditions, New Zealand remains 2nd, Denmark

was ranked 3rd, pressing back Hong Kong.

The World Bank Report provides the ranking of countries by key

aspects of legal regulation of business activity of national companies. The

ranking is based on 10 indicators: the complexity of registering a new

business, dealing with construction permits, electricity connection, property

registration and others.

According to the rating of quality of life

assigned by Numbeo (the world's largest data-

base of user content, dedicated to cities and

countries.), Belarus took 54th position. The

country has the best result among its partners

in the Eurasian Economic Union – Russia, Kazakhstan and Armenia.

Russia ranks 72th position, Kazakhstan – 63th, Armenia – 60th.

Kyrgyzstan is not represented in the ranking.

The top places are taken by Switzerland, Germany and Sweden.

The United States, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Australia, Canada and

New Zealand are also at the top-10.

Belarus ranks 85th place among 174 countries which were

represented in the world ranking of investment attractiveness International

Business Compass 2015. In 2014, Belarus ranked

115th position. The rating has been compiled by the

Hamburg Institute of International Economics in

cooperation with the audit firm BDO every year

since 2012.

Switzerland tops the list. Singapore, Hong Kong,

Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, the UK,

Sweden and New Zealand also enter the top-10. The

USA took 14th place. Ukraine ranks 89th place, Russia

– 100th.

November 2015

The updated information on the cost-of-living and conditions of life,

property prices, healthcare and crime, transport and environmental pollution

was taken into account during the preparation of the present rating.

The information was collected with the help of online research, without

the use of official government reports.

Belarus took 63rd place in the tax burden ranking (Paying Taxes 2016).

A total of 189 economies around the world were involved in the ranking,

which was drawn up by the World Bank and the auditing firm PwC. The tax

burden as a percentage of the model company that does not use tax

benefits, the amount of taxes and the required number of hours for their

payment were taken into account during the preparation of the ranking.

According to the rating, average tax burden

(Total Tax Rate) in Belarus amounted to 51.8%,

while the average figure is 40.8%.

Russia ranked 47th place (TTR – 47%),

Uzbekistan – 115th place (TTR –41,1%),

Georgia – 40th place (TTR – 16,4%), Moldova –

78th place (TTR – 40,2%), Armenia – 41th place

(TTR – 19,9%), Bulgaria – 88th place (TTR –

27%), Ukraine – 107th place (TTR – 52,2%).

Belarus took 63th place in the ranking of Legatum

Institute according to the Legatum Prosperity Index. A

total of 142 countries were involved in

the research 2015.

November 2015

International non-governmental organization the World Justice Project

presented the Rule of Law rating (The Rule of Law Index 2015) in which

Belarus took 50th place.

The rating is based on the evaluation

of experts, as well as on the opinion polls,

which were carried out in 102 countries

around the world. The authors of the

rating took into account such key factors

as the absence of corruption, orderliness

and security, limitation of authority of the

institutions of power, transparency of government institutions,

protection of fundamental rights, respect of law, civil justice, criminal

justice.

Kazakhstan holds 65th place, Moldova – 69th, Ukraine – 70th,

Kyrgyzstan – 74th, Russia – 75th, Uzbekistan – 81th.

The top-5 comprises of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and

the Netherlands.

Belarus holds 53th position in the ranking of countries according to

the Global Innovation Index 2015.

Switzerland, the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands and

the United States are the world leaders in the area of innovation.

November 2015

The index is based on 79 different indicators, combined into

8 categories that reflect various aspects of society and the parameters of

social welfare: economy, entrepreneurship, administration, education,

healthcare, security, individual freedoms, social capital.

Kazakhstan ranks 56th , Russia is rated 58th, Kyrgyzstan is ranked

66th, Armenia – 93rd.

Belarus ranked 25th in the world rating by the number of fixed

broadband subscribers (28.8 per 100 people) among 195 countries which

were involved in the study. Such data are contained in the report of the

UN Commission on broadband published on the website of the International

Telecommunication Union.

Among the post-Soviet countries only Lithuania is ahead of Belarus, it

occupied 20th place. Russia ranked 56th, Moldova - 64th, Ukraine - 86th.

The 1st place with a score of

46.8 subscribers per 100 inhabitants

belongs to Monaco, the 2nd – to

Switzerland (46 subscribers), the 3rd

– to Denmark (41.4 subscribers).

The Global Innovation Index 2015 examines the

"effective innovation policy for the further

development" and reveals new ways that will help

policy-makers in developing economies to strengthen

innovation and stimulate growth based on local

advantages and ensuring the development of a robust

national innovation environment. The rating was

assigned in cooperation with Cornell University,

business school INSEAD and the World Intellectual

Property Organization.

Ten companies-residents of High Technologies Park entered the

Software 500 ranking, published by one of the most influential publications

of the world high-tech industry – Software Magazine. The rating is headed by

IBM followed by Microsoft, Oracle, HP, SAP, Apple.

November 2015

National Geographic Traveler magazine held a contest for the best

tourist destinations among the most popular forms of recreation – National

Geographic Traveler Awards 2015. The winners are determined by the

results of Internet voting. Over

240 thousand people took part

in the survey.

As a result of the contest

National Geographic Traveler

Awards 2015, Belarus took

2nd place in the nomination

“Agrotourism”. Only Italy surpassed our country by 26%. Slovakia gained

20%, followed by Moldova with 18%, Russia 9%, Serbia with 8%,

Australia 4% and Lithuania with 3%.

In the nomination "Family vacation" Belarus shared 10th place with

Austria, Russia (Kaliningrad), the United States and Thailand. In the

nomination "Recreation vacation" Belarus shared 8th place with Hungary,

Crimea, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Sri Lanka. Belarusian Belavia was

ranked in the nomination "Best International Airline". It shared 7th place with

airlines AZAL, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, KLM, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Ryanair,

Singapore Airlines, Wizzair and "Aeroflot".

November 2015

As for the Belarusian companies, the IHS

entered the first hundred, and took 64th place

among the largest software companies.

Company EPAM Systems was ranked 122th,

Bell Integrator was ranked 228th place. Ericpol

Telecom took 296th place, IBA – 301th,

Itransition - 374th in the Software 500 ranking.

SoftClub ranks 417th, Coherent Solution —

418th , Artezio — 436th , Intetics — 444th .

Belarus holds 37th position in the annual

ranking of the Global Creativity Index-2015

occupying the highest position among the CIS

countries.

A total of 139 countries participated in the

research. Belarus is followed by Russia which held

38th position. Australia, the USA and New Zealand

became the leaders of the Global Creativity Index-

2015. Five Western European countries — Denmark,

Finland, Sweden, Iceland and the Netherlands – are

also at the top 10.

Within the research, experts estimate countries

in accordance with three “T” – “Talent”, “Technology”

and “Tolerance”.

Belarus takes 64th place оf 96 in terms of quality

of life of seniors. This is evidenced by the Global

AgeWatch Index 2015.

The index includes four main indicators – income

guarantee (the level of pensions, poverty and welfare),

health status (also life expectancy and psy-

chological well-being), opportunities

(duration of active life, occupation,

employment) and an enabling

environment (access to transport, the

level of social relations, etc.).

According to the figures, Belarus ranks

50th, 84th, 66th and 44th places

respectively. Russia held 65th position in

the ranking. Ukraine ranked 73rd. Lithuania held 63rd

position. Poland and Latvia ranked 32th and 35th places

respectively. Switzerland, Norway and Sweden are the

leaders of the Global AgeWacth Index.

November 2015

JSC "Savushkin Product" dairy products were awarded

with several prizes in the International Tasting

Competition (The Superior Taste Award (Belgium).

Cheese "Brest-Litovsk Ekstravyderzhanny", the classic

cottage cheese "Savushkin hutorok" and yoghurt

products "Savushkin slivochny" received Two Gold

Stars according to The Superior Taste Award. The

value of these awards is enhanced by competitive

environment in which Belarusian companies had to

emulate. Participants included world leaders: the

largest transnational corporations, such as Bacardi,

Coca-Cola, Danone, Schweppes, Unilever, Heineken, Pepsico and others.

Organizers of the contest note that "Savushkin product" was the only

Belarusian dairy enterprise which received the award within the duration of

this prestigious international competition.

Belarusian State University ranked among the 800 best universities

in the world by the British specialist magazine Times Higher Education.

BSU has become the only Belarusian University listed in the rating staying

in a group of educational institutions holding seats from 601th to 800th.

The top-5 includes the California Institute of Technology,

University of Oxford, University of Stanford, University of Cambridge and

Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Among Belarus's neighboring countries, the biggest number of

positions in the ranking belongs to Russian universities: there are

13 universities, including Moscow State University. Kiev National

University named after Taras Shevchenko and Vilnius University are in one

group with BSU. As well as BSU, they are the only institutions of Higher

Education of the country which were included in the rating.

There are 7 universities of Poland (the highest position – 501-600 –

belongs to the University of Warsaw) and the University of Latvia

(601-800th positions) in the Times Higher Education World University

Rankings 2015-2016.

November 2015

Minsk took 114th position in the ranking of

the most visited tourist destinations

Global Destinations Cities Index (GDCI) which

is annually presented by the international

payment system MasterCard. Experts pointed

out that in 2015 the capital of Belarus might

be visited by 273 thousand foreign tourists.

London became the most visited destination

for the fifth time in the last 7 years. According

to the research, in 2015, it was visited by

about 18.82 million international travelers.

The top-10 includes Bangkok, Paris, Dubai, Istanbul, New York,

Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Hong Kong.

Belarus ranks 1st place in the world

by the number of bisons living in natural

conditions.

In August 2015, there were

1200 individuals in our country – this is

the best figure in the world by the

number of bisons that live in a state of

natural freedom.

Information Department

Ministry of Foreign Affaires of the Republic of Belarus

Ul.Lenina, 19, Minsk, 220030, tel. (00375 17) 327 29 22

fax (00375 17) 210 42 50, 327 45 21

www.mfa.gov.by

November 2015