Socio-economic environment: Belgium

Belgium has over 10 million inhabitants or 335 inhabitants per square kilometre. The level of urbanisation is high at 97,3%.

In the figure opposite, Belgium is above the average of other European countries in terms of GDP; it has a GDP of 234 billion Euro or 23.400 Euro per inhabitant. Economically, Belgium has the potential to invest in stimulation of IST, on a national level as well as on an individual level.

The national Belgian ICT and Telecom industry is somewhat fragmented and niche-oriented. In Belgium the cable infrastructure is well developed covering over 90%. The ISDN infrastructure is some below average. Costs of telephony are average in Belgium and penetration of PC's at home is high. The market waits for IST services to be introduced.

The wealth of an individual older person is above average in Belgium but the level of permanent education achieved by 54-64 year old people is very low. However, a high level of PC penetration at home could imply low interest amongst older people to the introduction of new IST services.