Poverty and Unemployment Fall as Belize Economy Grows Over Six Percent

The latest figures from the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) show that the country’s incidence of poverty has dropped to 19.1 percent and the national unemployment rate declined to 1.9 percent in September 2025, while the economy grew by 6.1 percent in the third quarter of 2025.  The new data highlights continued improvements in key social and economic indicators, driven in part by strong performance across multiple sectors of the economy. The Labour Force Survey results show that only 1.9 percent of the labour force is currently unemployed, marking a decline from earlier in the year and reinforcing the trend of low unemployment. Despite the national improvement, the Institute says regional inequalities remain significant, with Toledo recording the highest incidence of multidimensional poverty. SIB says these differences show the need for targeted support in the districts experiencing the slowest progress. Speaking on this part of the data was Christian Orellano, Manager of the Census, Surveys and Administrative Statistics department.

Christian Orellano, Manager of Census, Surveys and Administrative Statistics Department: “To district results for 2025. Toledo with a multi-dimensional poverty index of 0.269 is the district most heavily affected by multi-dimensional poverty. 59.5% of the population of the Toledo district about 23,449 persons were multi-dimensionally poor. Poverty is also most intense in the Toledo district with an intensity of 45.1. However, the Cayo district with an intensity of 32.8% has the least intense multi-dimensional poverty, and the Belize districts are the lowest incidence with an incidence of 6.3%.”

On the poverty front, the national incidence of multidimensional poverty, which incorporates measures of deprivation across health, education, employment and living standards, fell to 19.1 percent in September 2025. This suggests that fewer Belizeans are experiencing multiple deprivations compared with previous years, although poverty levels remain a central focus for policymakers. Orellano compared this year’s MPI results to the results of last year’s report.

Christian Orellano, Manager of Census, Surveys and Administrative Statistics Department: “We now compare the 2024 MPI results to the 2025 MPI results. A decrease of 3 percentage points was observed for the incidents. This is a result of 13,095 individuals among 2,809 households coming out of being multi-dimensionally poor. When comparing the intensity between both years it can be observed that the severity of poverty showed very little change. Now let’s look at the indicators. First, we will look at how the indicators are doing among the entire population. 14 out of the 17 indicators saw improvement between both periods. With the largest reductions being observed in food security, which experienced a decrease in in deprivation by 6.7 percentage points followed by dependency which dropped by 3.8 percentage points and sanitation with a decline of 3.1 percentage point. However, slight increases were observed in overcrowding and informal employment where deprivation rose by 3.8 percentage point and 3 percentage point respectively.”

According to SIB data, economic output also showed robust growth with gross domestic product (GDP) expanding by 6.1 percent in the third quarter of 2025, a performance that outpaces many comparable periods and reflects gains in sectors such as services, agriculture, and tourism.