According to figures from the Federal Interior Ministry 75,000 people in Belgium moved to another region within the country last year. This is a 13-year high. The figures were requested by the real estate industry federation CIB and they appear in an article in Friday’s edition of the financial daily ‘De Tijd’. By far the greatest number of inter-regional moves was from the Brussels-Capital region.
Last year 36,970 people left the Brussels-Capital Region. Two-thirds of these moved to Flanders. Although a record number of people from Flanders (11,600) and Wallonia (9,014) moved to Brussels it was not enough to offset the outflow.
Demographer Patrick Deboosere of Brussels’ Dutch-Medium Free University VUB says that this phenomenon is not new. “The price of housing plays a major role. The high demand for school places and childcare facilities in Brussels with longer waiting lists as a result are also important reasons.”
Although far more people that were already in Belgium are leaving Brussels than are moving to the capital, the population of the Brussels-Capital Region is still increasing. The Federal Statistics Bureau Statbel’s figures show that the population of Brussels increased by 6,200 last year. This is mainly thanks to international migration. Brussels also remains the only Belgian region with more births than deaths.
Flanders and Wallonia
Statbel’s figures also show that last year almost 33,400 people moved from Brussels and Wallonia to Flanders in 2024, while just under 20,000 left our region. This resulted in a net inflow of around 14,000 people.
CIB’s spokesman Kristophe Thijs says that “The municipalities that are peripheral to Brussels and medium-sized cities such as Mechelen, (Antwerp Province), Leuven (Flemish Brabant) and Aalst (East Flanders) particularly popular”.
Meanwhile, Wallonia also recorded growth, with a net inflow of more than 2,400 people.