Learn about life and death in Belgium
From 1800 to the present, mortality patterns in Belgium have changed profoundly. The 19th century was marked by high death rates, recurrent epidemics, and social inequalities in survival.
Over time, declining mortality and rising life expectancy reflected major transformations in medicine, public health, and social organisation.
Discover how mortality risks differed between social groups and how processes of medicalisation, shifting disease patterns, and migration reshaped health and death.
When did mortality start to decline in Belgium?
Before the 19th century, death in Belgium, as elsewhere in Europe, followed an unpredictable rhythm, driven by harvest failures, epidemics, and the limits of contemporary medicine. Over the course of the 1800s, this began to change. Death rates entered a long-term decline that would eventually reshape population growth, life expectancy, and the texture of everyday life. This shift, called the mortality transition, ranks among the most consequential demographic changes of the modern era. But it did not unfold everywhere at once, nor at the same pace for everyone.
Major trends in mortality
From the 19th Century to the Present
From the 19th century onwards, the way people die has changed profoundly. People today do not die from the same causes as in the past, and they live much longer. How can we explain these changes?
Discover the major changes that have revolutionised public health and mortality rates.
The epidemiological transition
For millennia the average lifespan was around 30 years. Today, in Belgium, the average life expectancy is 82.5 years. In just over two centuries, the health of Belgians has improved enormously. The causes of death have also changed; people no longer die from the same diseases today as they did in the past! Find out why!
The evolution of life expectancy at birth in Belgium
In Belgium, people today live twice as long as they did 180 years ago. In 1840, life expectancy at birth was 40 years; in 2024, it exceeded 82 years. Globally, Belgium is among the countries with the highest life expectancy. While progress has been significant, it has not been constant. Discover which advances and periods have been decisive.
Women and men do not live as long
Today, in Belgium, women live on average 4.4 years longer than men. History tells us that this has not always been the case and that, until the mid-19th century, men lived slightly longer than women. How can these differences be explained? And what has changed since the mid-19th century?
The risk of dying varies considerably depending on age
Today, as in the past, age is a very important factor in mortality: the risk of death varies considerably with age, and the causes of death are not the same at all ages. Which age groups have contributed most to the increase in life expectancy, and at what age is the risk of death highest?
The social dimension of mortality
We are not all equal in front of death
Pourquoi certaines personnes vivent-elles plus longtemps que d’autres ? Quel est le rôle du milieu social ? Les inégalités sociales de mortalité se sont-elles accrues au cours de ces dernières décennies ? Concernent-elles tous les âges ou certains sont-ils davantage touchés que d’autres ?
The spatial dimension of mortality
des différences régionales aux particularités locales
La mortalité varie selon l’endroit où l’on vit. Cela dépend des caractéristiques socioéconomiques et culturelles, mais aussi des situations environnementales ou encore de l’offre et de la qualité des soins de santé des territoires.
En Belgique, où vit-on le plus vieux et le moins longtemps ? Comment les inégalités de mortalité selon les régions, les arrondissements, les milieux de résidence ou encore les communes ont-elles évolué ?
Migrants in modern Belgium
Flows and mortality
Migration has played an important role is shaping Belgian population in the last century. Over the last decades migrant population grew in size and diversity. Read to discover who moves to Belgium, where they settle, and whether migrants are healthier than native population.
Access to medical care
From 1800 to 2000
In Belgium, big evolutions in healthcare happened between 1800 and today.
Doctors
Imagine falling ill in Belgium in 1820. Who would you trust to treat you? A village healer, a barber-surgeon, a priest, or a university-trained doctor? Read on to find out what those options entailed and how the advanced medical care Belgium has to offer today, was born.
Hospitals: From places to die to centres of healing
Did you know that until the mid-nineteenth century, hospitals as we know them today hardly existed? Medical care was mostly provided at home by family members or friends. In fact, that was often safer, because death rates in hospitals were very high. Read on to discover why hospitals were so dangerous and how medical care provided by them gradually changed.