Both Flanders and Wallonia have been importing residents from Brussels. In total 43,102 residents left Brussels for Flanders or Wallonia while 25,109 moved in from both in 2024, according to the latest figures from statistics agency Statbel.
As a result, Brussels had a negative intra-Belgium migration rate of -17,993 last year. This follows a trend that has seen the Brussels-Capital region record a negative rate for the past three years in a row.
Real estate website Immoweb found in April the search for peace and quiet was the main reason for leaving Brussels (28%), followed by the need for greenery (26%), proximity to work (26%), and more affordable accommodation (18%).
Despite the continuing exodus, the population of Brussels grew last year in line with other parts of Belgium. The figures released by Statbel show that population growth in Brussels in 2024 was a result of a positive birth rate and international migration.
Brussels bucks the trend of more deaths than births in Belgium
Belgium has historically had a positive "natural balance" of more births than deaths. However, this historic trend reversed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
After a return to positive territory in 2021, the natural balance again turned negative in 2022 and has since remained there. Statbel notes that you have to "go back to the early forties" to find a previous negative natural balance in Belgium.
Brussels however bucks this trend, recording more births than deaths in 2024. Unlike Flanders and Wallonia, Brussels has posted positive natural balances for the last three years, but this rate has been slowing each year.
Commenting on the figures, sociology Professor Ignace Glorieux from Vrije Universiteit Brussel explained that families may have children in Brussels but then leave.
In addition to Brussels having a negative image he explained that "a lot of young middle-class parents leave Brussels to raise families as they can't find schools and want to be nearer to extended families", this was creating a situation whereby Brussels was becoming a city of "either the very rich or the very poor, the problem being that neither pay that much in taxes."
More people arriving in Belgium
Overall population growth in Belgium was 0.52%, or 61,901 inhabitants in 2024. Without international migration, Belgium's population would have declined.
In 2024, 194,212 people arrived in Belgium from outside the country and 128,168 left. Increases were recorded in every part of Belgium with the most in Brussels and Antwerp.
The highest number of people moving to Belgium were Belgians returning from elsewhere, followed by Romanians and then French. The same three nationalities make up the main nationalities for those leaving the country.
Immigration and emigration figures in Belgium remain in line with what they were in 2023 after a peak in 2022 as a result of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainians are now emigrating accounting for 4.6% of those leaving the country in 2024.
Beyond the migration figures, Statbel also released information on residents acquiring Belgian citizenship. Around sixty thousand residents acquired Belgian nationality in 2024. Leading the pack were Moroccans, Syrians, Romanians, Afghans, and Turks, a similar list compared to 2023.
