In 2024, 1,855 Flemish enterprises have moved to Brussels
In 2024, 1,855 Flemish enterprises relocated to Brussels, making it the largest migration flow of VAT-registered enterprises. This figure is only slightly higher (6 units) than the number of Brussels enterprises that have set up in Flanders (1,849). Movements between these two regions alone account for more then half of all business migration in Belgium.
Flows between Brussels and Wallonia are lower: 783 Walloon enterprises have set up in Brussels, compared to 1,303 that have left the capital for Wallonia.
In total, Brussels accounts for 81.4% of business migration flows in Belgium. Direct flows between Flanders and Wallonia are more limited: 723 movements from Flanders to Wallonia, and 601 from Wallonia to Flanders.
Purpose and short description
Regional migrations of active enterprises subject to VAT since 2008, based on the business register DBRIS, per year, region, economic activity (NACE-BEL), employment class and type of enterprise (natural person or legal entity).
Survey population
VAT-registered enterprises
Periodicity
Annual
Release calendar
Results available 9 months after the reference period
Definitions
Economic activity (NACE-BEL): Official nomenclature with an ‘X’ at the end when the information is only on 4 positions.
NIS employment class: NIS employment class as defined in the official NIS nomenclature table
Methodology
In accounting for migrations, we have compared the population of active enterprises subject to VAT on 31/12 between two years and accounted for enterprises whose head office was moved during this period. We did not take into account the migration patterns between the three regions and abroad or unknown locations. This is an annual statistic, which does not take into accounts events happening during the year (if several migrations have taken place during one year, we only take into account the one observed on the annual pictures on 31/12).