Belgium Inflation Calculator

See how prices have changed in Belgium and find out how much your salary needs to grow to keep up with inflation.

Income

Reference Year 2020

19962025

Monthly Salary in Reference Year $

Optional: enter monthly budgets for a category breakdown

Food & Beverages $

Housing & Utilities $

Transport $

Recreation & Culture $

Currency

BelgiumPrice Increase since 2020

31.0%

A $2,700.00 salary from 2020 would have to be $3,538.32 today. You are $838.32 short every month.

Salary Needed Today $3,538.32

Extra Monthly Cost +$838.32

Your Reference Salary $2,700.00

Data up to 2026-09

Category Breakdown

Food & Beverages

28.8%

Housing & Utilities

57.3%

Transport

36.5%

Recreation & Culture

25.6%

In annual terms, maintaining your 2020 purchasing power costs an extra $10,059.89 per year.
The steepest price increase was in Housing & Utilities: 57.3%.
Over 6 years, cumulative inflation reached 31.0%.

What the salary should have been

The line shows what the salary should have been each month to buy as much as in the reference year. The dashed line is your reference-year salary.

Data: Eurostat HICP (prc_hicp_minr, ECOICOP 2, index 2015 = 100), updated monthly.

Results are informational. Calculation is based on your input and public rules, official accounting may differ. For accuracy, confirm the final result if needed from the appropriate official source or specialist. See the terms of use.

How it works?

This calculator uses Eurostat HICP (Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices) data to measure how the purchasing power of money has changed over time. HICP is the official inflation measure used across the European Union, based on a representative basket of goods and services.

Select a reference year - for example the year you started a job or negotiated a salary. Enter your monthly earnings from that year. The calculator retrieves the HICP index for your chosen country, computes the annual average for the reference year, and compares it to the most recent monthly index - giving you the cumulative price increase as a percentage.

The extra monthly cost is how much more you would need to earn today to buy the same basket of goods as in your reference year. Optionally, enter monthly budgets for food, housing, transport, or recreation to see a breakdown by spending category, using the corresponding Eurostat HICP sub-indices.

Frequently asked questions

What is HICP and how is it measured?

HICP stands for Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices. It is the official EU-wide inflation indicator compiled by Eurostat, based on a basket of goods and services representative of what households buy. The same methodology is applied across all EU member states, making it suitable for cross-country comparisons. The index is published monthly and covers categories including food, housing, transport, healthcare, and recreation.

Link to this answer

Why does the reference year matter?

Inflation is always measured relative to a starting point. If you earned a given salary in 2015, you need to compare the 2015 price level to today's to know how much more you would need to maintain the same standard of living. Different reference years give different cumulative results - a period with high inflation (like 2021–2023 in Europe) adds significantly more to the total than a low-inflation period.

Link to this answer

Are the category breakdowns accurate?

The category breakdowns use official Eurostat HICP sub-indices: food and non-alcoholic beverages (CP01), housing, water, electricity and gas (CP04), transport (CP07), and recreation, sport and culture (CP09). These reflect the average price changes in those spending categories for the selected country. Your personal spending basket may differ from the statistical average used to construct the index.

Link to this answer

Why do different countries show different inflation?

Inflation rates vary by country due to differences in energy import dependence, wage growth dynamics, housing markets, and the composition of the consumer basket. The Baltic states (EE, LV, LT) experienced some of the highest inflation in Europe during 2021–2023, driven largely by energy and food prices. Western European countries generally showed lower but still significant cumulative increases.

Link to this answer

How often is the data updated?

Eurostat publishes the HICP of every member state for a month around the middle of the following month (September figures in mid-October). This calculator updates its data every day, so a new month reaches it within a day of publication. The result shows the month the data runs to.

Link to this answer