Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, publishes today the poverty figures for 2020 based on the survey on income and living conditions (EU-SILC). The main findings for the whole population are the following:
- In Belgium, 14.1% of the population was considered at risk of monetary poverty (AROP) in 2020. These are people living in a household with a total disposable income below the poverty line, which amounts to 1,284 euros per month for a single person. For the calculation, we used the income of 2019, which were not influenced by the COVID crisis.
- 11.9% of the population were living in a household with low work intensity (LWI).
- 3.9% of the Belgian population was facing severe material deprivation (SMD) in 2020.
- The people who are confronted with at least one of the three situations above are considered at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) according to the European poverty indicator used in the Europe 2020 strategy. In 2020, this concerned 18.9% of the population.
Risks of poverty in the Belgian regions and provinces
These national figures mask large regional differences. For each key indicator, the situation is the most precarious in the Brussels-Capital Region, and the least precarious in the Flemish Region. The Walloon Region is in between, but still registers higher poverty rates than the national rate. There are also clear differences at provincial level. The Flemish provinces do not differ much from each other, with the exception of Antwerp where higher levels are recorded. In Wallonia, the differences are more pronounced: Hainaut has the highest poverty rate, Walloon Brabant the lowest.
| AROP | LWI | SMD | AROPE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 14.1% | 11.9% | 3.9% | 18.9% |
| Brussels-Capital Region | 27.8% | 20.9% | 8.8% | 34.3% |
| Flemish Region | 9.3% | 7.6% | 1.5% | 13.0% |
| Walloon Region | 18.2% | 16.4% | 6.8% | 24.6% |
| Brussels-Capital Region | 27.8% | 20.9% | 8.8% | 33.3% |
| Antwerp | 12.2% | 9.6% | 2.2% | 16.4% |
| Limburg | 9.4% | 8.9% | 1.0% | 13.5% |
| East Flanders | 8.3% | 6.3% | 1.8% | 11.7% |
| Flemish Brabant | 7.3% | 5.6% | 1.2% | 10.5% |
| West Flanders | 8.2% | 6.9% | 0.5% | 11.2% |
| Walloon Brabant | 11.3% | 10.1% | 5.1% | 17.3% |
| Hainaut | 20.7% | 21.3% | 10.4% | 29.0% |
| Liège | 18.9% | 15.3% | 5.5% | 24.3% |
| Luxembourg | 17.6% | 10.4% | 4.1% | 21.6% |
| Namur | 15.8% | 13.1% | 2.9% | 21.1% |
Not only are there geographical differences, but subgroups of the population also differ considerably in terms of the risk of poverty they face. Monetary poverty most often affects people living in densely populated areas (21.3%), low-skilled people (26.8%), unemployed people (50%), tenants (31%) and single parent households (29.3%). The least vulnerable are Belgians living in medium populated areas (10.5%), high-skilled (5.9%), working (4.2%) or owner of their dwelling (7.7%). People living in a household consisting of two adults under 65 are also at a lower risk (5.7%).
More than 2 million Belgians are at risk of poverty or social exclusion
If we look at the results in absolute numbers, we see that 2,152,000 Belgians were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2020. More than half of them (1,408,000) were at risk according to only one of the three sub-indicators (AROP, SMD, LWI), while 174,000 Belgians (1.5% of the population) combined the three: they were suffering from severe material deprivation AND were living in a low work intensity household AND were at risk of monetary poverty.
Problematic housing situation
In addition, the SILC survey shows that 7.8% of Belgians live in a household where more than 40 % of disposable income is spent on housing costs such as rent or interest on the loan and energy costs. Once again, this national figure hides large regional disparities, with Brussels (15.3%) and Flanders (5.7%) as the extremes, and Wallonia in between (9%). Moreover, 5.7% of Belgians live in a dwelling that does not have enough space for the number of people living there. In Wallonia (3.3%) and Flanders (2.9%), however, the figures are clearly better than in Brussels (28.1%).
Note:
The COVID pandemic emerged in Belgium during the fieldwork for SILC 2020. The measures taken had a significant impact on the data collection. Therefore, it is difficult to compare the results of SILC 2020 with those of SILC 2019.