Over 20,000 people left Brussels to settle in Flanders in 2016, in figures which show that migration to the Dutch-speaking region from Brussels has more than doubled over a ten-year period.
A new survey carried out jointly by statistics agencies of Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders revealed that a total of 24,000 Brussels residents moved to the Flemish region in 2016.
Compared to the inter-regional migratory flows recorded in the year 1997, the 2016 figures represent an increase of 55%, the report noted.
The report's findings drew from data regarding the number of registrations at local town halls in the three regions of Belgium for the period going from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2016.
On average, residents of Brussels who left the capital city for another region were aged 30 to 44 and had one child of less than ten years old, the figures showed.
Over the ten year period, the report noted a growing presence of non-European nationals of citizens of countries which joined the bloc after 2000.
The study also found that the number of people moving from Flanders into Brussels saw a slight hike from the year 2000, while noting that migrations from Wallonia to Brussels remained stable at around 10,000 to 12,000 since 1997.
Migrations from Wallonia to Flanders have also seen a hike since 2015, corresponding to different profiles including adults of up to 29, with the city of Antwerp drawing in many among them.
Brussels residents leaving the city for either Flanders or Wallonia are mainly choosing to settle into the peripheral areas of the capital region, the report notes.
"The process of peri-urbanisation of Brussels, very active since the 1960s, carries on," the report reads.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
