State of the Union / Economy

Is our economy growing?

The economy is everything we produce and earn together. When it grows, there is usually more work and more money for wages and public services. Here you can see how fast the Belgian economy is growing, how much we produce per person and how fast prices are rising.

Show the federal governments on the charts

A government is never the only cause of how a figure develops. Many figures only respond to policy years later, and they also depend on the world economy, European rules and the policies of the regions and communities.

Forecasts of the Federal Planning Bureau

How much more expensive will life get, and when is the next indexation?

3.7%

Inflation 2026, expected annual average

The pivot index is expected to be exceeded in November 2026 (Planning Bureau); then April 2027.
Inflation 2027: 3.7% (expected annual average).

When the pivot index is exceeded, social benefits and civil servants' salaries rise by 2%. Private-sector wages are indexed according to the rules of each sector. The smoothed health index decides when this happens: it excludes tobacco, alcohol and fuel, and is averaged over four months.

What do other institutions expect?

The Planning Bureau collects the forecasts of various institutions for Belgium. They differ because they were made at different times and use different assumptions.

Institution	Economic growth (%)		Inflation (%)		Budget balance (% of GDP)		Updated
	2026	2027	2026	2027	2026	2027
Federal Planning Bureau	0.7	1.0	3.4	2.9	−5.1	−5.2	June 2026
National Bank of Belgium	0.6	1.1	3.4	2.3	−5.3	−5.5	June 2026
European Commission	0.7	0.9	3.4	2.6	−5.2	−5.4	May 2026
OECD	0.7	1.1	3.5	2.6	−5.2	−5.1	June 2026
IMF	0.7	1.1	2.8	2.2	−5.1	−5.2	April 2026
ING	0.6	1.2	3.4	2.9	—	—	September 2026
BNP Paribas Fortis	0.6	1.0	3.3	2.1	−5.5	−5.5	September 2026
KBC	0.6	0.9	3.2	2.7	−5.5	−5.4	September 2026
Oxford Economics	0.6	1.0	3.4	2.4	−4.9	−4.5	September 2026
IRES	0.7	1.1	2.9	2.5	−5.0	−4.9	April 2026
Belgian Prime News	0.6	1.1	3.4	2.5	−5.3	−5.2	July 2026
Consensus Economics	0.7	1.0	3.4	2.6	—	—	September 2026
Consensus Wirtschaftsinstitute	0.8	1.3	3.2	3.7	—	—	March 2026

Source: Federal Planning Bureau, forecasts of various institutions · Excel · version of 22 September 2026

Economic growth

How much does the economy grow each year?

1.0%

Belgium, 2025 provisional

That is lower than the EU average (1.4%).
In 2015 it was 1.5%.

A positive figure means that together we produced more than the year before. A negative figure, as in the COVID year 2020, means the economy shrank.

Definition and source

Definition: Annual growth of gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation.
Dataset: Eurostat · tec00115
Exact query: open the raw data
Updated by the source: 9 October 2026
Copy as CSV: bbp_groei.csv (handy for reuse; the source itself remains the reference)

GDP per inhabitant

How much do we produce per person?

€53,930

Belgium, 2025 provisional

That is higher than the EU average (€41,700).
In 2015 it was €36,860.

A measure of a country's prosperity. It is not an income everyone receives, but total production divided by the number of inhabitants.

Definition and source

Definition: Gross domestic product divided by the number of inhabitants, at current prices.
Dataset: Eurostat · nama_10_pc
Exact query: open the raw data
Exact query: open the raw data
Updated by the source: 9 October 2026
Copy as CSV: bbp_per_inwoner.csv (handy for reuse; the source itself remains the reference)

Inflation

How much more expensive is life getting?

3.0%

Belgium, 2025

That is higher than the EU average (2.5%).
In 2015 it was 0.6%.

With inflation of 3%, what cost 100 euros last year now costs 103 euros on average. In Belgium, many wages and benefits rise automatically with prices (indexation).

Definition and source

Definition: Average annual rise in consumer prices (harmonised index, HICP).
Dataset: Eurostat · prc_hicp_aind
Exact query: open the raw data
Updated by the source: 6 February 2026
Copy as CSV: inflatie.csv (handy for reuse; the source itself remains the reference)

Difficult words explained

GDP: Gross domestic product: the value of everything a country produces in a year. It is the usual measure of the size of an economy.
Real growth: Growth with the effect of price rises taken out. This shows whether we really produce more, not just at higher prices.
Inflation: How much the prices of what households buy rise on average in a year.