Brussels population, the most highly educated of Belgium

The Brussels Institute for Statistics and Analysis released a survey about education in Belgium.

Among the three Belgian regions, the Brussels Region has the highest percentage of residents with a diploma of higher education. In all regions, one-third of the population has little or no qualifications.

Breakdown of the population (25 years of age and older) of each region by level of education, in 2016

1/3 Brussels residents do not have a  secondary education diploma

The results of the 2016 Labour Force Survey show that on average 33% of people living in Belgium have little or no qualifications, as they at most, obtained a lower secondary education diploma. At a regional level, a similar pattern can be observed: 33% of Brussels, 32% of Flemish and 35% of Walloon citizens have a low level of education.

4/10 Brussels residents have a diploma of higher education

Nationwide, one in three people on average have a diploma of higher education (university and non-university combined). The Flemish and Walloon Regions come close to the national average as 32% and 31% of their population respectively have a high level of education. At 41%, the Brussels population is the most highly educated in Belgium.

Conversely, the Brussels Region has fewer people with a medium level of education than the other Regions. 26% of the Brussels population at most has a diploma of higher secondary education while, in the Flemish and Walloon Regions, that percentage hovers around the national average of 35%.

Fewer people have little or no qualifications

Since 2006, the level of education of the Belgian population has steadily increased. In 10 years, the share of the population with a low level of education has decreased across all Regions, in favour of the medium and high levels of education. The residents of the Brussels Region are increasingly likely to have a diploma of higher education while the numbers of people with a diploma of higher secondary education remain the same. In the Flemish and the Walloon Regions, however, the segment of the population with a diploma of higher secondary or higher education continues to grow.