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To promote transparency and provide information, the Federal Planning Bureau regularly publishes the methods and results of its works. The publications are organised in different series, such as Outlooks, Working Papers and Planning Papers. Some reports can be consulted here, along with the Short Term Update newsletters that were published until 2015. You can search our publications by theme, publication type, author and year.
Speeches & presentations - SP20150512_01 (mix),
Forecasts & Outlook - Economic outlook 2015-2020 (fr), (nl), (fr), (nl), (fr), (fr), (fr), (fr), (nl), (nl), (nl), (nl),
Reports - REP_LTMARCH2015_10994 (fr), (nl),
This Working Paper presents the methodological progress made in projecting international migration. The new methodology is notably based on an analysis of migration flows per nationality and on statistics on reasons for migrating, in order to assess whether economic variables constitute relevant determinants of migration. If they do, the impact of economic determinants on immigration is estimated using econometric methods. The methodology also takes into account the increasing globalization and mobility as well as the expected growth of the global population which boost international migration flows (immigration and emigration). Finally, it grants more stability to the long-term migration projections and, therefore, to the population projections; the annual revisions of long-term migration will be less dependent on the short-term evolution of migration flows.
Working Papers - Working Paper 02-15 (en), (fr),
The Federal Planning Bureau and Statistics Belgium have updated their demographic projections until 2060. Belgium’s population should grow from 11.2 million in 2014 to 11.9 million in 2030 (+7%) and 13.1 million in 2060 (+17%). The number of private households in Belgium should rise from 4.8 million in 2013 to 5.3 million in 2030 (+10%) and 5.9 million in 2060 (+23%).
These results are based on a set of hypotheses regarding the future evolution of birth and death rates, international and domestic migration and, as far as households are concerned, the evolution of the different ways of living together. One chapter of the publication deals with prospective mortality rates, which allows projecting « period » life expectancies (cross-sectional approach) and « generational » life expectancies (cohort approach).
Forecasts & Outlook - EFPOP1460 (fr), (nl),
Reports - REP 15-02 (fr),
Reports - REP 15-01 (fr),
For the sixth time since 2001, the EPC Working Group on Ageing Population (AWG) has performed long-term economic and budgetary projections aimed at assessing the impact of ageing population. The last “Ageing Report” to date was published in 2012. The 2015 edition, which will be released in spring 2015, will present projections which have been endorsed in February 2015 by the EPC.
The projections of public pension expenditure are worked out at national level – by the Federal Planning Bureau in the case of Belgium – in the framework of the assumptions of the AWG, while the projections of the other age-related public expenditure items are worked out by DG ECFIN Services. These public pension expenditure projections are submitted to a peer review process, on the basis of a technical so-called national “country fiche”. These “country fiches” are released by the EC jointly with the “Ageing Report” itself, but the EC has kindly authorized FPB to use the “Belgium: Country Fiche 2014” for national purposes and to publish it before the release of the “Ageing Report 2015”.
Reports - REP_COUNTRYFICH2014 (en),
This Working Paper presents the methodology the Federal Planning Bureau currently utilizes to draw up the Belgian household projections by 2060. This methodology allows for detailed projections of the number of households (at the district level) by household type and according to the factual situation and not the legal situation. Thus, the projections include the different forms of living arrangements, such as cohabitation, single-parent families, single households, etc. They also guarantee the coherence with the national population projections which have been published by the Federal Planning Bureau and the Directorate-General of Statistics for several years and are based on the so-called component method.
Working Papers - Working Paper 09-14 (fr),
This paper presents the models developed at the FPB to project public spending on curative care and long-term care in the medium and long term. The variables explaining curative care spending are income, the age composition of the population, the unemployment rate and technological and medical progress. This variable is approximated using two indicators, the number of new drug approvals (Farmanet data) and the approvals for non-pharmaceutical products (Food and Drug Administration data). With the exception of the latter, all drivers mentioned above increase the cost of curative care. As for long-term care spending, it is explained by income, the proportion of older people in the population and their life expectancy. Long-term care spending is positively impacted by income and ageing. Yet, due to the increase in life expectancy, the impact of ageing shifts gradually towards the oldest age group.
Working Papers - Working Paper 06-14 (nl),
The present document is the fourth biannual progress report in which the Federal Planning Bureau (FPB) gives an account of the monitoring of the economic stimulus strategy announced by the Federal government in the summer of 2012.
This progress report gives an overview of the measures to follow up and reviews the progress of their implementation (situation on June 30, 2014).
Reports - OPREP201403 (fr), (nl),
Other publications - FORVERG201401 (fr), (nl),
Since mid-2013, the Federal Planning Bureau has produced a series of studies and simulations at the request of and for the Commission on Pension Reform 2020-2040 under the research contract agreed between the Department Social Security and the Federal Planning Bureau.
Reports - OP_REP_PEN14
The Federal Planning Bureau and the Directorate-General Statistics and Economic Information have updated their demographic projections until 2060. Belgium’s population should grow from 11.1 million in 2013 to 11.9 million in 2030 (+7%) and 12.5 million in 2060 (+13%). The number of private households in Belgium should rise from 4.8 million in 2013 to 5.3 million in 2030 (+11%) and 5.8 million in 2060 (+21%).
Forecasts & Outlook - EFPOP1360 (fr), (nl),
The present document is the third biannual progress report in which the Federal Planning Bureau (FPB) gives an account of the monitoring of the economic stimulus strategy announced by the Federal government in the summer of 2012.
This progress report gives an overview of the measures to follow up and reviews the progress of their implementation (situation on January 31, 2014). In addition, the report attempts to provide an analysis of those measures.
Reports - OPREP201401 (fr), (nl),
At the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the National Institute for Health and Invalidity Insurance (NIHDI) asked the Federal Planning Bureau to draft a report on the social impact of public health care and health care insurance. We focused on three specific questions. First, what was the contribution of health care to population health during the past half-century? Lacking sufficient data on other dimensions of health, we look at mortality and life expectancy. Two approaches to this question lead to the same conclusion: the expansion of health care has contributed substantially to the increase in life years. The second question concerns the role of health care in the economy. The value added and employment in the branches Health care and Social services has increased vastly between 1970 and making health care an ever more important part of the Belgian economy . The third question is about the impact of health care and public health care insurance on inequalities in health and income. Among other findings, we report that in Belgium there is no social inequality in the use of general practitioner, though there is in specialist consultations. Also, a fairly large number of older persons have to cope with own contributions to health care that exceed 10% of their income.
Reports - OP_INAMI_RIZIV_14 (fr), (nl),
The state reform was elaborated at a moment when large fiscal consolidation measures were required to restore the long-term sustainability of Belgian public finances. The 2011 institutional agreement provided that the federated entities contribute, through the reform, to the fiscal consolidation. That contribution can be justified by the fact that the reform, by reducing the budgetary size of the federal level, decreases the federal level’s room for manoeuvre and its capacity to resolve on its own the sustainability issue. The magnitude of the contribution necessary to prevent the sustainability challenge from deteriorating is assessed and compared to the redistribution of the public deficit as organized by the reform. The assessment is made in a constant policy scenario and for different assumptions about the reform's life span. This study shows that the transfer of fiscal burden to the federated entities is, a priori, sufficient not to aggravate the sustainability problem considering the reduced size of the federal level’s budget. The federated entities have gained scale and powers but will have to contribute substantially to the efforts to restore fiscal sustainability.
Working Papers - Working Paper 01-14 (fr),
This Working Paper studies the financial and social sustainability of the Belgian social protection system. The results of this publication were presented at the 20st Congrès des économistes belges de langue française and published in the conference proceedings. Assuming no policy changes and against the background of population ageing, the long-term public finance projections highlight an important budgetary challenge. In that framework, this paper examines a number of pathways based on the three pillars of the European strategy as determined during the 2001 Stockholm summit. The budgetary strategy (pillar 1) of the Belgian stability programme in itself does not guarantee the long-term sustainability of public finance and should, therefore, be completed by reforms in support of economic growth (through employment or productivity, pillar 2) or reforms of the pension schemes (as part of pillar 3). The social consequences of the reforms which alter the generosity of the pension schemes should not be overlooked.
Working Papers - Working Paper 15-13 (fr),
Speeches & presentations - SP131121_01 (fr),
Speeches & presentations - SP131121_02 (fr),
Reports - REP_DIPLBONI_201310 (mix),
Since many years, Statistics Belgium (Directorate General Statistics and Economic Information - DGSEI) and the Belgian Federal Planning Bureau (FPB) have annually produced official population projections for Belgium at the NUTS3 level used by official Belgian institutions and in several short-, medium-, and long-term projection models (such as economic projections, income poverty, long-term healthcare expenditures, energy, transport) and for specific projects or demands. Aside from these official population projections, interest for household projections is growing. Indeed, understanding the population in this dimension is very useful for numerous aspects of social life (expansion of single-parent households - often mothers - or of isolated households with old persons who are at higher risk of poverty problems or short of support) and of economic life (impact on consumption, taxation, housing, mobility, etc). To do so, a household projection model for Belgium, calibrated on the Belgian population projection at the NUTS 3 level, is under development. The objective of this paper is to describe the model and to present the provisional results.
Speeches & presentations - SP131029 (en), (en),
Working Papers - Working Paper 06-13 (nl),
The present document is the second biannual progress report in which the Federal Planning Bureau (FPB) gives an account of the monitoring of the economic stimulus strategy announced by the Federal government in the summer of 2012.
It offers an overview of the measures to follow up and reviews the progress of their implementation (situation on 30 June 2013). In addition, the report attempts to provide a first analysis of those measures. Through a number of selected indicators, it presents a numerical benchmark before implementation or, when possible, a first ex ante impact assessment.
Other publications - OPREP201302 (fr), (nl),
Other publications - FORVERG201301 (fr), (nl),
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