economy
April 16, 2026
Europe's Capital Growing Poorer
According to the 2025 Well-being Barometer report, published by the Observatory for Health and Social Protection, 23 percent of Brussels residents are at risk of poverty, which is significantly higher than in Flanders, where the rate is 7 percent, and Wallonia, where it is 13 percent.
TL;DR
- 23% of Brussels residents are at risk of poverty, compared to 7% in Flanders and 13% in Wallonia.
- Six of the ten Belgian municipalities with the lowest incomes are in Brussels.
- Social assistance dependency is higher in Brussels, with 47,304 beneficiaries in 2025.
- Over 50,000 undocumented individuals and nearly 9,800 homeless or inadequately housed people were recorded in Brussels in 2024.
- Housing costs consume over 20% of residents' income, and more than half for the poorest.
- Over 55,000 families were on waiting lists for social housing, with waits often exceeding a decade.
- 24% of residents live in inadequate housing, and 30% in overcrowded conditions.
- One in three children in Brussels grows up in a household at risk of poverty.