Economy of Belgium

Economy of Belgium
Business district in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of Brussels
CurrencyEuro (EUR, €)
Calendar year
Trade organisations
EU, OECD, WTO
Country group
Statistics
Population11,549,888 (1 January 2020)[3]
GDP
  • $655 billion (nominal, 2024)[4]
  • $803 billion (PPP, 2024)[4]
GDP rank
GDP growth
  • 3.0% (2022)
  • 1.5% (2023)
  • 1.2% (2024)[4]
GDP per capita
  • $55,536 (nominal, 2024)[4]
  • $68,079 (PPP, 2024)[4]
GDP per capita rank
GDP by sector
  • 2.3% (2023)
  • 3.6% (2024)[4]
Population below poverty line
19.5% at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE, 2019)[6]
25.1 low (2019, Eurostat)[7]
73 out of 100 points (2023)[9] (17th)
Labour force
  • 5,105,726 (2020)[10]
  • Increase 72.1% employment rate (2023)[11]
Labour force by occupation
Unemployment
  • 5.1% (August 2020)[12]
  • 13.0% youth unemployment (15 to 24 year-olds; June 2020)[13]
Average gross salary
€3,401 / $3,821 monthly (May, 2017)
€2,170 / $2,438 monthly (May, 2017)
Main industries
engineering and metal products, motor vehicle assembly, transportation equipment, scientific instruments, processed foods and beverages, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, base metals, textiles, glass, petroleum
External
Exports$547.5 billion (2021)[5]
Export goods
chemicals, machinery and equipment, finished diamonds, metals and metal products, foodstuffs
Main export partners
Imports$395.7 billion (2020)[5]
Import goods
raw materials, machinery and equipment, chemicals, raw diamonds, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, transportation equipment, oil products
Main import partners
FDI stock
  • $1.035 trillion (31 December 2017 est.)[5]
  • Abroad: $1.159 trillion (31 December 2017 est.)[5]
$1.84 billion (2019 est.)[5]
Negative increase $1.281 trillion (31 March 2016 est.)[5]
Public finances
  • 98.6% of GDP (2019)[14]
  • €467.160 billion (2019)[14]
  • €9.0 billion deficit (2019)[14]
  • −1.9% of GDP (2019)[14]
Revenues50.3% of GDP (2019)[14]
Expenses52.2% of GDP (2019)[14]
Economic aid
$31.76 billion (April 2021 est.)[5]
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of Belgium is a highly developed, high-income, mixed economy.[18]

Belgium's economy has capitalised on the country's central geographic location, and has a well-developed transport network, and diversified industrial and commercial base. Belgium was the first European country to join the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century. It has since developed a highly-developed transportation infrastructure made up of ports (most notably the Port of Antwerp), canals, railways, and highways, in order to integrate its industry with that of its neighbours.[19] Among OECD nations, Belgium has a highly efficient and strong social security system; social expenditure stood at roughly 29% of GDP.[20][21][22]

Belgium's industry is concentrated mainly in the populous region of Flanders in the north, around Brussels and in the two biggest Walloon cities, Liège and Charleroi, along the Sillon industriel. Belgium imports raw materials and semi-finished goods that are further processed and re-exported. Except for its coal, which is no longer economical to exploit, Belgium has few natural resources other than fertile soils. Despite the heavy industrial component, services dominate the country's economy and account for 77.2% of Belgium's gross domestic product (GDP), while agriculture accounts for 0.7%.[19]

With exports equivalent to over two-thirds of the country's gross national income (GNI), Belgium depends heavily on world trade. Belgium's trade advantages are derived from its central geographic location and a highly skilled, multilingual, and productive work force. One of the founding members of the European Community, Belgium strongly supports deepening the powers of the present-day European Union (EU) to integrate European economies further.[19] About three-quarters of its trade is with other EU countries. In 2021, Belgium's public debt was about 108% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).[23]

  1. ^ "World Economic Outlook Database Groups and Aggregates Information". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund.
  2. ^ "World Bank Country and Lending Groups". datahelpdesk.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  3. ^ "Population on 1 January". ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Eurostat. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects: April 2024". imf.org. International Monetary Fund.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "The World Factbook". CIA.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  6. ^ "People at risk of poverty or social exclusion". Eurostat. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income – EU-SILC survey". Eurostat. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Human Development Report 2023/2024" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  9. ^ "Corruption Perceptions Index". Transparency International. 30 January 2024. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Labor force, total – Belgium". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Employment rate by sex, age group 20-64". ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Eurostat. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  12. ^ "Unemployment by sex and age – monthly average". appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu. Eurostat. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Unemployment rate by age group". data.oecd.org. OECD. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  14. ^ a b c d e f "Euro area and EU27 government deficit both at 0.6% of GDP" (PDF). ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Eurostat. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  15. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^ "Sovereigns rating list". Standard & Poor's. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  17. ^ "Scope affirms the Kingdom of Belgium's ratings at AA-; revises the Outlook to Negative from Stable". Scope Ratings. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  18. ^ "Belgium: Introduction". globaledge.msu.edu. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  19. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference DoS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Kenworthy, Lane (1999). "Do Social-Welfare Policies Reduce Poverty? A Cross-National Assessment" (PDF). Social Forces. 77 (3): 1119–1139. doi:10.2307/3005973. JSTOR 3005973. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 August 2013.
  21. ^ Moller, Stephanie; Huber, Evelyne; Stephens, John D.; Bradley, David; Nielsen, François (2003). "Determinants of Relative Poverty in Advanced Capitalist Democracies". American Sociological Review. 68 (1): 22–51. doi:10.2307/3088901. JSTOR 3088901.
  22. ^ "Social Expenditure – Aggregated data". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
  23. ^ "General government gross debt – annual data". Eurostat. Retrieved 10 September 2022.