2024-01-10 05:58:44
The richest 10% of households hold 55% of net wealth in Belgium, but this distribution of wealth makes Belgium one of the most egalitarian countries in the OECD. Wealth inequality has also declined slightly in recent years, thanks to rising house prices and relatively weak stock market performance.
Belgium has a poor government but rich households. Household net worth last year amounted to nearly 3,000 billion euros, including nearly 1,900 billion euros in real estate assets and more than 1,100 billion euros in financial assets.
The median family has a net wealth of 277,000 euros. Half of families have more net worth and the other half have to make do with less. This Belgian median net wealth is much higher than in the euro zone, where the median is 150,000 euros.
Egalitarian Belgium
The National Bank, in collaboration with the European Central Bank, has just published new statistics to better understand the distribution of this heritage. This distribution is still estimated on the basis of household surveys, but these surveys give a distorted picture because the richest households, in particular, prefer to remain discreet.
Therefore, the National Bank also adds macroeconomic statistics to the data. “This provides new statistics on wealth inequality. However, these statistics are still experimental and have a fairly large margin of error,” explains Roeland Beerten, head of statistics at the National Bank.
New statistics show that the richest 10% of households hold 55% of net wealth. This is a little more than in previous surveys, which estimated the share of the richest 10% of families at around 50%. The poorest 50% of families hold around 8% of net wealth. Wealth inequality in Belgium is slightly lower than the eurozone average. Belgium is therefore one of the most egalitarian countries in the OECD.
Wealth inequality has fallen slightly
Asset inequalities have decreased slightly in Belgium in recent years. In 2011, the richest 10% still held nearly 60% of net wealth, compared to 55% in 2023. If the richest 1% of households still held 19% of wealth in 2000, this share fell to 17%. % Last year.
“The reduction in wealth inequality is partly due to the rise in property prices. As 70% of households own a home, the rise in property prices has a moderating effect on wealth inequality,” explains Steven Cappoen, statistician at the National Bank.
The relatively poor performance of stock markets has also contributed to reducing wealth inequality in recent years. Indeed, shares listed on the stock exchange are largely owned by the richest 10% of households. Therefore, if house prices rise faster than stock prices, which has been the case in recent years, wealth inequality declines.
The evolution of the Gini coefficient, another statistical measure of wealth inequality, also confirms a slight downward trend since 2017. The Gini coefficient is also much lower in Belgium than in the euro zone.
Costs and benefits of inequality
“These new statistics are in line with the values and mission of the National Bank to be socially responsible and to provide quality statistics,” says Géraldine Thiry, director of the National Bank, whose responsibilities include the statistics department. “The demand for data on the distribution of wealth is increasing. More information is needed on inequality because it can both threaten economic stability and also impact the effectiveness of monetary policy. »
The National Bank notes that inequality is partly a source of economic progress. The prospect of higher income and greater wealth provides incentives to study, work and do business. But inequality is also accompanied by higher costs, specifies the National Bank. Inequalities limit opportunities, poverty reduction and personal development. Excessive inequality can also jeopardize societal cohesion, trust in institutions, growth and stability.
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