Belgium has a life expectancy three years higher than the European average but annual deaths in the country are still subject to fluctuations, for instance from flu intensity to temperatures. Whilst national deaths has remained stable in the long term, in the capital the figure has dropped.
112,131 people died in Belgium last year, provisional data from the Belgian statistics office Statbel shows. This marks an increase of around 900 deaths compared to 2023. Age plays a key role.
The findings are even more illuminating when compared to a broader reference period, explains Statbel spokesperson Wendy Schelfaut. "The average for the years 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 is 112,168 deaths." In this respect, the deaths in 2024 are in line with recent years.
The lowest figure was recorded in 2019 (108,000) and 2020 was excluded as the Covid-19 pandemic led to an unusually high number of deaths. The figures include deaths that took place abroad but were registered in the country.
Regional differences
The national figures hide differences between Belgium's regions. In absolute figures, 65,470 people died in Flanders last year; in Wallonia the figure was 38,140; in Brussels it was 8,521. This equates to around 1% of Flanders' and Wallonia's population, and 0.68% of the Brussels population.
In Brussels, the number of people who died last year was 0.7% lower than in 2023. "In Wallonia and Flanders, on the other hand, we saw a slight increase of 0.4% and 1.2% respectively."
Compared to a broader reference period, the number of deaths fell slightly in the Brussels-Capital Region and the Walloon Region (down by 3.3% and 1.1%, respectively from 2023) and rose slightly in the Flemish Region (+1.1%).
Schelfaut explains how population structures differ between the regions, likely playing a role. Whilst the average age of the entire population in Belgium was 42 in 2021, in Brussels it was 37.7 years, making it the youngest region.
At the start of last year, Flanders had the highest proportion of people aged 85 and over (3.3%). In Wallonia this was just 2.7%. Yet in Brussels, the figure is as low as 2.0%. But Schelfaut says further analysis is needed to understand the effect of different population compositions.
Across Belgium, the number of deaths fell by 3.2% among those aged 1 to 74. For the over-75s there was a 1.5% rise in deaths. Only among the over-85s was the number of deaths higher than expected (+2.3%).
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Schelfaut says that the number of over-85s across Belgium has been growing for quite a few years, going up some 7% between 2019 and 2024. "This means there are more and more people in the age groups with a higher risk of death."
Slightly more women died (+0.4%), while the figure dropped by 0.4% among men compared to a broader reference period. Finally, there were fewer deaths in summer and more deaths in winter, following a typical pattern.
