DEMOCRACYS.ORG / COUNTRY BRIEF
Belarus
Institutions and political conditions · 2025
#163of 179 places
−11.6points since 2015
14.8–23.8source-bound score area*
What the score says
Belarus scores 20.1 on the Democracys Standard. Its score was 31.7 in 2015, a fall of 11.6 points. The lowest-scoring dimension in 2025 is public reasoning (6.4).
What drove the change?
The score for Belarus fell 11.6 points, from 31.7 to 20.1 between 2015 and 2025. All five areas declined. Public reasoning contributed the largest downward push in the score calculation. The latest year moved in the opposite direction (+0.5), so the longer trend is not the whole story.
This explains movement within the formula, not the causal effect of political events.
2025 context · Freedom House assessment
An election occurred without meaningful political openness
The January presidential election took place amid severe repression. Freedom House also reports releases of political prisoners, alongside continued large-scale imprisonment and restrictions on organizations through anti-extremism measures. Releases and an election calendar are not, on their own, evidence that opponents can organize or challenge incumbents freely.
Read the country report · Freedom in the World 2026AI-assisted source summary · not independently expert-reviewed
What this context does—and does not—explain
This is a selected development, not a complete political history. Its date may differ from the selected comparison period. It is not evidence that one event caused a particular number of points, and it may describe progress even when this index declines.
The scores use V-Dem. The narrative summarizes a separate assessment by Freedom House, whose definitions and coverage differ. Neither organization endorses this website. The summary is AI-assisted, source-linked, and has not received independent country-expert review. Source checked October 5, 2026.
Why democracy measures can disagree →Look beneath the headline
| Democracy test | 2025 | Since 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| Free and fair elections | 16.3 | −8.4 |
| Rights and checks on power | 8.6 | −15.1 |
| Public participation | 14.2 | −5.8 |
| Public reasoning | 6.4 | −14.4 |
| Political equality | 76.6 | −6.3 |
Dimension movements are not additive contributions to the overall score. The method also accounts for weak areas.
Three questions worth investigating
- Do leaders explain decisions, consult the public, answer opposing arguments, and consider the common good?
- Which documented changes in laws, institutions, or their implementation occurred during the period?
- What evidence challenges your explanation, and whose experience is missing?
Use primary records and country expertise. A change in an estimate alone does not identify its cause.
Read with care
This is an independent educational beta, not a V-Dem endorsement. Scores are not percentages of democracy or judgments about a people. Small differences may be within uncertainty. *The score area is obtained from source bounds; it is not a formal confidence interval for this composite or its change.