Covid-19 - Statbel data
Table of Contents
On this page, Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, collects the results of various statistics. These are frequently requested figures related to the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Belgium. We regularly publish here new analyses and specific figures on the employment, population and economy. Do you have more questions? Contact us via statbel@economie.fgov.be.
Socio-economic impact
Monthly figures on the labour market
After two months of increase, the provisional figures for November show a sharp decline in the employment rate of people aged 20-64. The employment rate of people aged 20-64 in November is estimated at 68.3 %, the lowest level since the beginning of the health crisis.
Harmonised index of consumer prices - December 2020
Belgium's inflation rate based on the European harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) was running at 0.4 % in December compared to 0.2 % in November.
Material and social deprivation in 2020
In 2020, 10.9 % of the Belgian population was faced with material and social deprivation.
Datalab : VAT-registrations in November
The movements observed in the population of VAT-registered units in November result in an increase in the number of active enterprises compared to October 2020.
98 bankruptcies in week 1
During the week from 4 to 10 January included (week 1), the business courts pronounced 98 bankruptcies, resulting in a total of 179 job losses. The number of bankruptcies shows a clear increase, both in comparison with the last week of 2020 and the first week of previous years.
12.5 % decrease in retail sales in November
In November 2020, at the beginning of the second wave of COVID-19, shops considered non-essential had to close and some sections considered non-essential in supermarkets were suppressed.
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Mortality
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>> Opendata: Number of deaths per day, sex, district and age (2009-2020)
Contextual data
Belgian salaries with a focus on essential occupations during the Covid-19 crisis
In 2018, a full-time employee in the private sector earned a gross average salary of 3,627 euros per month, according to the latest figures of Statbel, the Belgian statistical office. The median, i.e. the amount for which 50 % of employees earn less and 50 % of employees earn more, is 3,361 euros gross per month.
Professionals in health care
In Belgium, there are in 2020 47,808 doctors, 152,067 nurses and 109,534 assistant nurses who are living in Belgium, are active and have the right to provide their services on the Belgian territory.
Life expectancy
In 2019, life expectancy at birth in Belgium was 81.8 years for the total population, 84.0 years for women and 79.6 years for men.
Schools and senior care facilities within 5 km
In Belgium, 99.9 % of the population lives within 5 km of a primary school. A secondary school within 5 km from home is a reality for 88.6 % of Belgians.
Finally, 97.5 % of the Belgian population lives within 5 km from a senior care facility.
Digital isolation: almost a quarter of people living alone have no Internet at home
In this coronavirus crisis, communication is mainly digital. However, a significant part of the population does not yet have an Internet connection, via any device. In total, 22 % of people living alone in Belgium have no Internet at home, according to the figures of Statbel, the Belgian statistical office. These are mainly slightly older people: among people aged 65-74, the figure is even 31 %. Also 2 % of children attending school do not have access to the Internet at home, and are therefore unable to take online lessons at home.
One employee out of five worked from home in 2019
In 2019, 18.9 % of the employees sometimes or usually worked from home, compared to 7.4 % in 1999. This is what emerged from the figures of Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, based on the Labour Force Survey.
Home working means all the work carry out from home. It does not necessarily involve telework, which is made possible by a telecommunication connection.
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52 % of grandparents live less than 5 km away from their grandchildren
Belgians are known to be attached to their homes, and that also seems to be the case across the generations. Almost 22 % of grandparents (21.79 %), who have at least 1 grandchild aged 15 or younger, are living less than 1 km away. 4.5 % even live with their grandchildren. Conversely, 28 % of grandchildren live less than 1 km away from their grandparents and in total, more than three grandchildren out of four (78 %) live no more than 10 km away from their grandparents, according to the new figures of Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.
In the current coronavirus crisis, parents are asked to stop visiting grandparents and to stop relying on them for childcare. Even if the actual distance between grandparents and grandchildren is quite small in practice.
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More than 700,000 people working in the health sector
15 % of the working population work in the human health and social work activities sector[1]. This is what emerged from the figures of Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, based on the Labour Force Survey of 2019.
In addition to the 140,000 nurses, 100,000 auxiliary nurses and 35,000 doctors, the health sector also includes many social workers, administrative staff, cleaning and maintenance staff and other professional categories. In total, more than 700,000 persons work in this sector.
Statbel has examined the profile of people working in the health sector: the sector is predominantly female, the staff has an above-average education level and there are more older workers than average.
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65+
There are 2,204,478 persons aged 65 and over in Belgium. This corresponds to 19 % of the total population. Flanders has 20 % of ‘seniors’, Wallonia 19 % and the Brussels-Capital Region 13 %. (figures on 01.01.2020).
https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/population/structure-population
Employment of people aged 65+
61,332 persons aged 65 and over had a job in 2019.
Employed persons aged 65 (.xlsx)
Households with children and people living alone
1,744,620 persons live alone in Belgium. This is 35 % of households in Belgium. 25 % of households consist of couples without children, 28 % of couples with children and 10 % of single-parent families. (figures on 01.01.2020).
| Household type | Belgium | Flemish Region | Walloon Region | Brussels-Capital Region | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOTAL | 4.995.388 | 100% | 2.845.252 | 100% | 1.593.505 | 100% | 556.631 | 100% |
| People living alone | 1.744.620 | 35% | 912.371 | 32% | 577.026 | 36% | 255.223 | 46% |
| Couples with no children living at home | 1.263.712 | 25% | 824.063 | 29% | 357.079 | 22% | 82.570 | 15% |
| Couples with children living at home | 1.388.235 | 28% | 820.558 | 29% | 434.445 | 27% | 133.232 | 24% |
| Single parents | 491.825 | 10% | 233.504 | 8% | 194.063 | 12% | 64.258 | 12% |
| Other types of household | 100.538 | 2% | 50.876 | 2% | 28.978 | 2% | 20.684 | 4% |
| Collective households | 6.458 | 0% | 3.880 | 0% | 1.914 | 0% | 664 | 0% |
Causes of death
Despite a slight decrease of their relative importance, the diseases of the circulatory system (27.1 % of all causes of death) remain the leading cause of death, followed by tumours (25.8 %) and diseases of the respiratory system (11.2 %). This ranking remains the same in Flanders and Wallonia, but in Brussels, tumours become the first cause of death with 24.9 % of all causes, compared to 24.6 % for diseases of the circulatory system.
In 2017, diseases of the circulatory system decrease as initial causes of death
Homework
59 % of enterprises with 2 employees or more supply portable devices for professional use that allow a mobile internet connection via mobile telephone networks.
46 % supply those devices to more than 10 % of their staff, 39 % to more than 20 % and 17 % to more than half of their staff.
ICT usage and ICT usage in enterprises (.xlsx)
https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/enterprises/ict-usage-enterprises
Tourist accommodations
In 2019, the number of overnight stays in tourist accommodations was 2.81 million in March 2019 and 3.95 million in April.
https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/enterprises/tourist-accommodations
Opendata
- Number of deaths per day, sex, district and age (2009-2020)
- Number of deaths per month by place of death (2009-2017)
- Causes of death by month, sex, age group and region (2009-2017)
- Number of deaths per day per municipality (2009-2018)
- Number of deaths per day (2008-2018)
- Population according to the km² (Grid) (2016)
Covid-19 and European statistics
