Almost half the workers in Brussels are commuters

Figures from three Brussels universities show that almost half of all workers in the city commute from outside the region.

Roughly 708,000 people work in the Belgian capital. In 2016, 345,000 of these commuted from outside the region. 31% of Brussels workers commute from Flanders and 17% from Wallonia. Only 10% of the population lives here, yet over 15% of the Belgian workforce are active in Brussels.

People living in Brussels make on average a 3.6km trip to work, compared to 35km for those commuting from outside the region. Half of all commuters still use the car, but the bike is more popular among the high skilled, who shun public transport more. The low skilled more commonly carpool.