Distillers Country guides / Brunei Darussalam
Brunei Darussalam
A one-page guide to Brunei Darussalam for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Bandar Seri Begawan
- Official languages
- Malay
- Currency
- Brunei dollar (BND)
- Time zone
- UTC+8
- Area
- 5,770 km²
People
- Population
- 466,330 (2025)
- Population growth
- 0.8% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 75.0%
- Aged under 15
- 20.6%
- Aged 65 and over
- 7.2%
- Life expectancy
- 75.5 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$15.0 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$32,235 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 0.66956214816436% (2025)
- Inflation
- -0.302994414446814% (2025)
Climate
Tropical rainforest (equatorial) climate; cyclones are rare or absent.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Prohibited (sale and public consumption banned; limited private import by non-Muslims)
- Legal drinking age
- Sale prohibited at all ages; non-Muslims aged 17+ may import limited amounts for private consumption at home
- What people drink
- Beer 93%, spirits 7% (2022)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia: Brunei Darussalam (basics, climate, ports); Wikipedia: Legal drinking age; World Bank Open Data (population, GDP, growth, inflation, area); WHO Global Health Observatory: total alcohol per capita; UN Comtrade (HS 2208 trade). Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.