Does Belarus have the cleanest air, water and food in the world? What international indexes show

Publication date: 13 August 2026

Claim

Belarus allegedly has the cleanest air, water and food in the world.

Verdict

False. International indexes show that Belarus performs well in some environmental areas, but it is not ranked first for either air quality or drinking water. The claim about the "cleanest food" also cannot be derived from a global food security index.

In brief

• In the 2024 Environmental Performance Index, Belarus ranked 32nd among 180 countries overall.

• Belarus ranked 58th for air quality and 79th for exposure to anthropogenic PM2.5.

• It ranked 42nd for sanitation and drinking water and 39th on the unsafe drinking water indicator.

• The Global Food Security Index does not measure "food cleanliness" as one laboratory value. Its Quality and Safety pillar covers dietary diversity and nutritional quality as well as food safety.

• Good performance on selected indicators cannot be converted into an absolute world record across three different fields.

Why this matters

"The cleanest in the world" sounds like a simple, testable statement. In practice, it combines different concepts: air pollution, drinking water risks, sanitation infrastructure, dietary quality and food safety. Each has a separate methodology and dataset.

This substitution makes it harder to discuss genuine strengths and weaknesses in environmental and food policy. A country can have a good overall score while still facing problems with particular pollutants, waste, climate policy or nutrition.

What we checked

We reviewed:

1. the original claim and the Belarusian Investigative Center's fact-check;

2. Belarus's profile in the 2024 Environmental Performance Index produced by Yale University;

3. the category definitions used by the Global Food Security Index;

4. an independent BEROC review of changes in Belarus's environmental performance published by the FREE Network.

We did not combine rankings from different editions into one table. The main air and water positions come from the same 2024 EPI edition.

Evidence

1. A good overall environmental position is not first place

Belarus scored 58.2 and ranked 32nd among 180 countries in the 2024 EPI. This is a respectable result, but it directly rules out an unconditional claim of world environmental leadership.

The index combines environmental health, ecosystem vitality and climate change mitigation. Its overall score cannot be presented as a separate measure of clean air, water or food.

2. Belarus is not first for air quality

In the 2024 EPI country profile, Belarus ranked 58th in the Air Quality category. It ranked 79th for exposure to anthropogenic PM2.5, 164th for nitrogen dioxide exposure and 27th for ozone exposure.

The range matters because air quality is not measured by one number. Different pollutants produce different results, and neither the category score nor the individual indicators support a first-place claim.

3. Belarus is not first for sanitation and drinking water

Belarus ranked 42nd in Sanitation & Drinking Water. It ranked 39th on Unsafe Drinking Water, an indicator focused on health harm associated with unsafe water.

These positions indicate comparatively solid performance, not a world record. The category assesses health risks and sanitation conditions rather than identifying the world's "cleanest water" through one chemical test.

4. A food security index does not establish the "cleanest food"

The Global Food Security Index examines affordability, availability, quality and safety, and sustainability and adaptation. Its Quality and Safety pillar measures the diversity and nutritional quality of average diets together with food safety.

That is broader than the everyday phrase "clean food". A high or middle score cannot be translated into a conclusion that all food in one country is cleaner than food everywhere else.

The GFSI 2022 results page says that the leading countries performed strongly across all four pillars and identifies Finland, Ireland and Norway among the leaders. This does not support a Belarusian world-leading claim either.

5. Strong indicators coexist with weak ones

The 2024 EPI profile gives Belarus strong positions in some biodiversity and ecosystem measures. At the same time, the country ranked 132nd for agriculture, 135th for sustainable nitrogen management and 75th for climate change mitigation.

BEROC researchers also noted that Belarus had historically outperformed many CIS countries on several environmental measures while facing fossil-fuel dependence, limited renewable energy development and problems implementing environmental policy.

An accurate assessment must retain both sides of this picture.

What remains unknown

• The phrase "cleanest food" has no stated definition. It could refer to contaminants, sanitary controls, pesticide residues, nutritional value or consumer trust.

• International indexes rely on data from different years and use different models. Rankings may change when methodologies are updated.

• National and local measurements may reveal regional variation that is not visible in a country-level index.

These limits do not make the original claim plausible. Without a defined measure, an absolute world record cannot be tested, and the available comparable data contradict it.

Conclusion

Belarus has meaningful strengths in environmental performance, but available international data do not show that it has the cleanest air, water and food in the world. The 2024 EPI ranks Belarus 58th for air quality and 42nd for sanitation and drinking water. The food security index measures a broader set of conditions and does not prove that all food in Belarus is the world's cleanest.

Verdict: False.

Sources

1. Belarusian Investigative Center, The cleanest air, water and food in the world?: https://investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/belarus-vozduh-voda-eda

2. Yale Environmental Performance Index, Belarus, 2024: https://epi.yale.edu/country/2024/BLR

3. Economist Impact, Global Food Security Index 2022: https://insights.economistenterprise.com/sustainability/project/food-security-index

4. UNCCD Knowledge Hub, Global Food Security Index description: https://www.unccd.int/resources/knowledge-sharing-system/global-food-security-index

5. FREE Network / BEROC, An Environmental Perspective on Belarus's Sustainable Development: https://freepolicybriefs.org/2024/10/07/belarus-environmental-decline

Corrections and updates

If new comparable international data are released or the original meaning of "cleanliness" is clarified, Unity Bridge will update this article. Factual errors can be reported through the contact details on the website.