A record number of EU citizens left Belgium in 2024, according to the latest report by the Belgian migration agency Myria on Wednesday.
The number of immigrants to Belgium remained stable compared with previous years, when the refugee flow from Ukraine caused a peak.
In 2024, 171,706 foreign nationals immigrated to Belgium. This figure remained stable compared to 2023, but is higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Almost half of these immigrants come from another EU country, while 14% originate from a European country outside the EU, 17% came from Asia, 16% from Africa, and 5% from the American continent.
Romanians represent the largest group with 18,845 immigrants – mainly men. Employment is the main reason for their arrival. Following them are France, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Spain, and Morocco.
Notably, France accounts for the largest number of female immigrants. There is also a clear trend where more women than men migrate to Belgium among immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean, and East Asia.
'Difficult to predict'
Meanwhile, 91,866 foreign nationals left Belgium in 2024. This figure also remained stable.
However, when looking only at EU citizens, there is a large share of departures: a total of 61,338 EU citizens left Belgium that year – the highest number ever recorded.
The top three nationalities who left Belgium by number are Romanians (15,414), French (10,442), and Dutch (6,256).
"Emigration of EU citizens is a complex phenomenon that depends on the mobility strategies of each nationality," said Myria.
"The dynamics are variable and difficult to predict because they are also linked to the initial reasons why these groups came here," the organisation added. Therefore, it is impossible to identify a single factor as an explanation.
Myria also examined the demographic composition of Belgium. On 1 January 2025, there were officially 11,825,551 people residing in Belgium, including 1,634,924 foreign nationals and 10,190,627 Belgians.
Of the latter, the vast majority (7,571,338 people) were of Belgian origin, while 2,619,289 were of foreign origin, accounting for 22% of the total population.
