Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, publishes today the new figures on the administrative equivalised disposable income at municipal level for the year 2022.
- Attert has the highest median income with € 42,211.
- Saint-Josse-ten-Noode the lowest with € 19,288.
- In 2022, Holsbeek and Zemst are the municipalities with the lowest risk of monetary poverty[1]. 3.4% of the population there is below the poverty threshold.
- At the opposite, we find Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, where 34% of the population is at risk of poverty.
Remark
The income mentioned in the text is the administrative equivalised disposable income. This income, calculated based on administrative data, takes into account both taxable and non-taxable (net) income (professional income, social benefits, pensions, integration income, rental income, capital income, child allowances, maintenance allowances, etc.) are taken into account for the whole population. They are added up for all household members to obtain an administrative disposable income for the household. After adjustment according to household composition, the variable “administrative equivalised disposable income” is obtained. It can then be used to calculate figures on income and poverty risk at municipal level. For more information, see the tab Documents.
Attert is the richest municipality and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode the poorest.
The median income per municipality is by far the highest in Attert with € 42,211, followed by Messancy (€ 37,226), Kraainem (€ 36,531), Etalle (€ 34,978) and Saint-Léger (€ 34,924). In the top 10 richest municipalities, 6 are located in the province of Luxembourg, 3 in Flemish Brabant and 1 in the Brussels-Capital Region. The lowest median income can be found in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode with € 19,288, followed by Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (€ 19,739), Anderlecht (€ 20,512), Koekelberg (€ 21,141) and Farciennes (€ 21,279).
| 10 municipalities with the highest median income | 10 municipalities with the lowest median income | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Attert | 42,211 | Saint-Josse-ten-Noode | 19,288 |
| Messancy | 37,226 | Molenbeek-Saint-Jean | 19,739 |
| Kraainem | 36,531 | Anderlecht | 20,512 |
| Etalle | 34,978 | Koekelberg | 21,141 |
| Saint-Léger | 34,924 | Farciennes | 21,279 |
| Arlon | 34,822 | Charleroi | 21,610 |
| Tervuren | 34,814 | Schaerbeek | 21,726 |
| Wezembeek-Oppem | 34,702 | Brussels | 21,862 |
| Woluwe-Saint-Pierre | 34,690 | Dison | 22,000 |
| Habay | 34,120 | Liège | 22,342 |
The five Flemish municipalities with the highest income are Kraainem (€ 36,531), Tervuren (€ 34,814), Wezembeek-Oppem (€ 34,702), Overijse (€ 33,706) and De Pinte (€ 33,543) as first municipality outside Flemish Brabant. The lowest median income can be found in the municipalities of Antwerp (€ 23,986), Ronse (€ 24,855), Mesen (€ 24,911), Ostend (€ 25,635) and Boom (€ 25,936).
In Wallonia, the top five consists only of municipalities in the province of Luxembourg, with Attert (€ 42,211), Messancy (€ 37,226), Etalle (€ 34,978), Saint-Léger (€ 34,924) and Arlon (€ 34,822), while the five poorest municipalities are Farciennes (€ 21,279), Charleroi (€ 21,610), Dison (€ 22,000), Liège (€ 22,342) and Colfontaine (€ 22,351)
The five richest municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region are Woluwe-Saint-Pierre (€ 34,690), Auderghem (€ 31,185), Woluwe-Saint-Lambert (€ 30,384), Uccle (€ 28,800), Watermael-Boitsfort (€ 28,060) and Etterbeek (€ 27,332). On the contrary, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (€ 19,288), Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (€ 19,739), Anderlecht (€ 20,512), Koekelberg (€ 21,141) and Schaerbeek (€ 21,726) are the Brussels municipalities with the lowest income.
Poverty risks are the lowest in the Flemish municipalities and the highest in the Brussels-Capital Region
The poverty risk[1] indicates the proportion of the municipal population with an income below the national poverty threshold. The municipalities with the lowest poverty risk are all in the Flemish Region: Holsbeek (3.4%), Zemst (3.4%), Boutersem (3.6%), De Pinte (3.7%) and Herne (3.8%). The municipalities with the highest risk are located in the Brussels-Capital Region: Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (34%), Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (31.5%), Anderlecht (28.2%), Schaerbeek (26.8%) and Koekelberg (26.7%).
88 municipalities have a risk of poverty lower than 5%. All provinces are represented, except for Walloon Brabant and the Brussels-Capital Region. Flemish Brabant takes the lead with 26 municipalities, followed by East Flanders (23 municipalities), the province of Antwerp (13 municipalities), West Flanders (9 municipalities) and Limburg (6 municipalities). The Walloon provinces are less well represented with the province of Liège (7 municipalities) in the lead, followed by that of Namur (2 municipalities), Hainaut and Luxembourg (1 municipality each). However, 17 municipalities have a risk of poverty above 20%. They are all located in the Brussels-Capital Region (10 municipalities) and the Walloon provinces of Liège (4 municipalities) and Hainaut (3 municipalities).
[1] The new variable acts as a catalyst for municipal poverty rates
The figures on the poverty risk at national and provincial level are published based on the SILC survey. The administrative equivalised disposable income was developed on an administrative basis to align as closely as possible with the SILC household and income concepts, and also uses the same definitions. This makes it possible to identify the risk of income poverty at municipal level, but these figures in no way replace the national, regional and provincial poverty figures that Statbel publishes based on the data from the SILC survey, which meet a European standard that allows statistics to be compared within the EU.
For greater clarity, “poverty risk” is always used here for the administrative poverty risk, “poverty threshold” for the administrative poverty threshold and “income” for the administrative equivalised disposable income.