Disposable resources of households in the fourth quarter of last year amounted to 2,946.2 rubles per month, which was 30.6 rubles more than in the third quarter of the same year. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2024, disposable household resources increased by 400.4 rubles.
Disposable resources include households’ monetary funds, the value of food products consumed that were produced in personal subsidiary plots, minus material costs for their production and/or received from other sources free of charge, as well as the value of benefits and payments received in kind. The National Statistical Committee of Belarus publishes this information based on the results of a sample household living standards survey.
Average resources of urban households increased by 40.8 rubles over the quarter to 3,073.7 rubles per month. Rural residents had resources of 2,534.3 rubles per month, which was 2.3 rubles less than in the third quarter of last year. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2024, resources of urban households rose by 402.4 rubles, while those of rural households increased by 395.9 rubles.
Cash expenditures per household in the fourth quarter rose by 34.9 rubles to 2,836.5 rubles per month, of which 1,961.5 rubles, or 69.2 percent, accounted for consumer spending. Consumer spending increased by 54.3 rubles. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2024, total expenditures increased by 389.9 rubles, including consumer spending, which rose by 254.8 rubles.
In the structure of consumer expenditures of households, spending on food accounted for 37.5 percent (-0.3 percentage points compared with the third quarter), purchases of non-food goods for 37 percent (+1.1 percentage points), and payment for services for 23.3 percent (-1.4 percentage points). Over the year, the share of spending on food increased by 0.6 percentage points, spending on non-food goods declined by 0.7 percentage points, while spending on services rose by 0.3 percentage points.
Resources of more than 1,000 rubles were available to 65.3 percent of Belarusians, which was 1 percentage point more than in the third quarter. In Minsk, 80.4 percent of the population had resources above 1,000 rubles (+0.6 percentage points), while in the Mahilyow region the figure was 54.6 percent (+1.7 percentage points). More than half of the population had resources above 1,000 rubles in all regions of the country.
Nationwide, 29.9 percent of the population (+0.7 percentage points) had resources exceeding 1,500 rubles. In Minsk, their share stood at 45.8 percent (-0.2 percentage points), while in the Mahilyow region it was 19.5 percent (+1.3 percentage points).
In the highest-income group with resources exceeding 1,800 rubles were 18 percent of the population (+0.5 percentage points). In Minsk, this share was 30.2 percent (+2.4 percentage points), while in the Mahilyow region it was 10.4 percent (-0.5 percentage points).
The most numerous group consisted of people with resources ranging from 1,000.1 to 1,100 rubles, accounting for 8.4 percent of the population. Resources from 1,100.1 to 1,200 rubles were available to 8.3 percent.
Resources of less than 450 rubles were available to 1.5 percent of the population, which was 0.3 percentage points less than in the third quarter.
The share of the population with resource levels below the subsistence minimum budget in the fourth quarter declined by 0.1 percentage points to 3.4 percent. In cities, the share of people with such resources stood at 2.7 percent (unchanged), while in rural areas it was 5.6 percent (unchanged). The highest share of the population with resources below the subsistence minimum budget was recorded in the Mahilyow and Homyel regions at 4.9 percent, while the lowest was in Minsk at 1.1 percent.
A year earlier, in the third quarter of 2024, 3.4 percent of the population had resources below the subsistence minimum budget.
