Indicators of economy in Belgium
The essential economic performance of a country is reflected by the gross domestic product, the total of all goods and services sold. Worldwide gross domestic product in 2021 was at about 12,230 USD per capita. GDP in Belgium, on the other hand, reached USD 51,247 per capita, or 594.10 billion USD for the whole country. Belgium is therefore currently ranked 23 of the major economies. If this is calculated per inhabitant, taking purchasing power parity into account, then Belgium ranks 19th in the list of the richest countries.Inflation in Belgium in 2021 was around 2.44%. Within the EU, the average in the same year was 2.55 percent. In the United States, it was most recently 4.70%.
Compared with the USA, prices for daily consumer goods are around 3.0 percent lower.
The index for perceived corruption in the public sector is 73, which is above average by global standards.
Back to overview: Belgium
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Overall, the gross domestic product in Belgium in 2020 decreased moderatly from 535.83 billion US dollars to 525.21 billion US dollars. Certainly, there have been shifts in some sectors of the economy, but a drop of 2.0 percent is still comparatively good this year. Numerous countries suffered more substantial losses. The tourism sector alone slumped by around 30 percent. The unemployment rate rose from 5.4 to 5.6 percent. The country's gross debt increased by 12.5 percent. The inflation rate fell from 1.4 percent previously to 0.7 percent by the end of 2020.Unemployment rates in percentages 1991 - 2021
Economic performance 2021
Belgium Total | Belgium per capita | EU Total | EU per capita | |
---|---|---|---|---|
GDP | 594.10 bn USD | 51,247.01 USD | 17.177 tn USD | 33,384.92 USD |
Gross national product | 585.38 bn USD | 50,494.08 USD | 16.895 tn USD | 32,835.37 USD |
Belgium ranked 14th in the Bloomberg Innovation Index in 2021. The index is calculated annually and most recently included 60 countries. The front-runner was South Korea. Out of the 2,000 largest listed companies in the world, 7 originate from Belgium. This is determined annually in the Forbes Global 2000 list. The 7 largest companies in the country in 2022 were:
Rank 93: Anheuser-Busch InBev (Leuven)
Rank 307: KBC Group (Brussels)
Rank 715: Ageas (Brussels)
Rank 969: Solvay (Brussels)
Rank 1065: UCB (Brussels)
Rank 1198: Umicore (Brussels)
Rank 1329: Sofina (Brussels)
Development of gross domestic product in billions of USD 1960 - 2021
Household debt and deficits 2021
Belgium Total | Belgium per capita | EU Total | EU per capita | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gross debt | 648.95 bn USD | 55,978.04 USD | 15.068 tn USD | 29,285.70 USD |
Budget deficit | 33.08 bn USD | 2,853.04 USD | 799.24 bn USD | 1,553.35 USD |
› Debt budget development
› Development of inflation
› Corruption in Belgium
› Cost of living in a global comparison
› Development of inflation
› Corruption in Belgium
› Cost of living in a global comparison
Imports and Exports 2021
Belgium Total | Belgium per capita | EU Total | EU per capita | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Imports | 512.92 bn USD | 44,244.50 USD | 8.916 tn USD | 17,329.02 USD |
Exports | 513.53 bn USD | 44,296.67 USD | 9.554 tn USD | 18,569.19 USD |
Development of imports and exports in billions of USD 2002 - 2021
Exports
Imports