Brussels has once again been named the region in Belgium with the highest cost of babysitting, with the average price for the service going up.
Unlike in France, there is no legal framework for babysitters in Belgium, and they generally work in a personal capacity. This means they can usually decide what price they charge.
In Belgium, this usually is in the range of €7 to €10 an hour, but there are cheaper options, such as the Flemish Gezinsbond. The cost of a babysitter through this service is as low as €5 per hour, but they have to be booked for at least two hours.
This lack of framework for the service also results in prices varying depending on the region. In Brussels, a babysitter is the most expensive, according to figures from the babysitter app Bsit. Here, it costs on average €9.20 an hour for someone to look after children for a short period of time.
This is €0.50 more expensive than last year, Bruzz reported. This makes the capital, together with the province of Luxembourg in the south of Belgium, the most expensive babysitting region in the country.
In 2016, Brussels was also the most expensive region to get a babysitter. Surprisingly, the cost has hardly increased since then, as the average price was €8.80 per hour for a babysitter at that time, according to babysitting platform Yoopies.
The cheapest services are found in the province of Antwerp, where babysitters charge an average hourly rate of €7.60.
The average rate across Belgium is now €8.10, up by €0.20 from last year. This can be explained by the fact that there has been a 12% increase in the number of babysitters booked via the app. The average period of babysitting was 4 hours and 42 minutes.
