In 2023, the international migration balance for Belgium was 66,349: this means that more people immigrated to Belgium than emigrated. This is what emerges from the figures of Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.

The international migration balance, i.e. the difference between the number of immigrations and emigrations, was positive in 2023 (+66,349). A positive international migration balance is in line with expectations, but the balance is slightly more positive than normal. This can be explained by a slightly larger number of international immigrations^[1] in 2023: 194,887 immigrations were recorded. In 2021 and 2022, this figure was 165,534 and 233,629, respectively. The impact of the war in Ukraine is still visible in 2023: 13,702 (7.0%) immigrants have the Ukrainian nationality. Yet this effect is smaller than in 2022 (year when the war broke out), when 57,514 (24.6%) immigrants had the Ukrainian nationality.

In addition, 128,538 international emigrations^[2] were registered in 2023. This figure is also very high. In 2021 and 2022, this figure was 107,416 and 117,085, respectively. Again, people of Ukrainian nationality play an important role, accounting for 5.9% of emigrants in 2023, compared to 4.6% in 2022 and 0.2% in 2021.

In 2023, the international migration balance was the driving force behind population growth in Belgium. The positive international migration balance offsets the negative natural balance (difference between the number of births and deaths) and, in addition, ensured a fairly strong population growth by 66,093 inhabitants, or by 0.57%.

^[1] International immigration consists of three movements: (1) classic international immigration, (2) change of register ‘in’ (transfer from the waiting register to the aliens’ register) and (3) re-registration (following an automatic deletion).
^[2] International emigration consists of three movements: (1) classic international emigration, (2) change of register ‘out’ (transfer to the waiting register) and (3) automatic deletion.