Figures released by the National Office of Statistics show that the poverty gap in Flanders narrowed significantly fell sharply last year. On average, the income of people living below the poverty line is much closer to the threshold above which they would no longer be considered to be living in poverty than was the case a year ago.
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The poverty gap in Flanders narrowed significantly in 2023
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Figures released last month showed that in Belgium as a whole 12.3 % of household had an income that was below the poverty line. This was the lowest figure in around 20 years. The figure for Flanders (7.8%) has remained the same for several years.
The poverty line threshold is recalculated every year based on the income of all Belgians in the previous year. For 2023, this was 1,450 euro net per month for a single person and 3,045 net for a household with 2 adults and 2 children.
Income gap
The new figures show that the income gap; the average median income of people living below the poverty line thresh hold, is much closer to the threshold than it was in previous years. In Flanders the average median income of those living below the poverty line was 12.2% lower than the threshold figure.
In 2022, this figure was still 18.2% in Flanders. At 12.2%, the figure for Flanders in 2023 is also lower than in the two other regions. In Wallonia it is 18 % and in the Brussels-Capital Region the figure is 14 %.