Belgium's fertility rate is at its lowest in 30 years, now averaging 1.46 children per woman.
✔ All Belgian regions show declining birth rates, with Brussels experiencing the steepest drop at 7.7%.
✔ Decrease in births persists despite better economic conditions post-2010 financial crisis.
✔ Future population growth in Flanders likely driven by immigration, not higher birth rates.
Belgium's fertility rate at its lowest in 30 years
A nurse holds a baby in the maternity department in the Imelda hospital in Bonheiden on, Thursday 17 August 2023. Credit: Belga
The fertility rate in Belgium has reached its lowest level in 30 years, according to a new report from the Federal Planning Bureau and national statistical service Statbel.
The average number of children per woman currently stands at 1.46, meaning that the average family in Belgium is also steadily getting smaller. From the mid-2030s, the average number of children per woman is expected to stabilise at around 1.6.
"The fertility rate has been decreasing since 2010," Hendrik Nevejan, an expert of the Federal Planning Bureau, told The Brussels Times. "We initially thought this was linked to the financial-economic crisis, but other factors seem to be at play as well."
Nevejan explained that plans to start or expand a family are often put on hold in difficult financial times, but the data shows that the decline persisted even in better economic conditions.
Credit: Belga / Jasper Jacobs
"Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy was doing better but the fertility rate still continued to drop and we see today that the decline continues. Of course, there is still a fair amount of uncertainty: in recent years, we have gone from crisis to crisis"
This, he stressed, does not create a favourable environment for family expansion either. "We may now be seeing the effect of that. Not only in the rising age when people want children, but also in the decreasing number of children they want. We are not only seeing this in Belgium, but also in neighbouring countries and elsewhere in the world."
Dropping birth rate
Indeed, the birth rate is going down: some 108,700 births were registered in Belgium last year – roughly 5,200 fewer (-4.6%) than the average for the 2020-2023 period. This decline is seen in all regions: from a solid decrease in Wallonia (-6.6%) and the Brussels-Capital Region (-7.7%) to a more moderate decrease in Flanders (-2.6%).
"In time, we expect negative population growth for Brussels, as well as Wallonia," said Nevejan. In Flanders, however, the population is expected to grow, but likely mainly due to immigration.
The low number of births in 2024 in Belgium, compared with the mortality figures (112,131), will most likely result in a negative natural balance for the year 2024. "This relatively recent trend, namely a negative natural balance in Belgium, therefore seems to be continuing."
