In 2024, defence spending reached its highest share of total government spending in Belgium in 20 years, data from the National Bank revealed on Wednesday.
Defence spending last year amounted to €7.95 billion, or 2.4% of total expenditure. It increased for the first time in a long time, mainly due to the inclusion of new equipment such as F-35 fighter jets.
This is a calculation according to the UN's Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG) standard, whereby defence spending for 2024 amounted to 1.3% of Belgium's gross domestic product (GDP).
Within the Western defence alliance NATO, Belgium has committed to significantly increasing its expenditure to 5% of GDP by 2035, of which 3.5% will be pure defence expenditure and 1.5% expenditure on related areas such as critical infrastructure.
The calculation used by NATO differs from the COFOG classification.
Advance payments
For 2024, defence spending reached 1.3% of GDP, according to both calculation methods. According to the NATO standard, the increase in recent years has been more gradual, while COFOG shows a sudden rise.
This is partly because the NATO standard immediately takes into account actual (advance) payments, while the COFOG definition only counts expenditure upon delivery. The NATO standard also includes, for example, the acquisition of financial assets in the defence sector.
Social protection remains by far the largest item of government expenditure, accounting for 37.7% of the total or €126.54 billion, and is also consuming an ever-increasing share of the total budget.
The share of pensions and sickness benefits in costs has increased, while the share of unemployment benefits has more than halved in 20 years.
After social protection, the largest expenditure items are healthcare (14.8% or €49.58 billion), economic affairs (11.9% or €39.85 billion) and education (11.7% or €39.28 billion). Their share of total expenditure also increased compared to 2004.
