3.4 million Belgians, or 41.4% of people aged 18 to 74, take care of someone in their family. This is what emerged from the new results of Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, based on the Labour Force Survey. This care may involve children, grandchildren, an ill partner or other relatives.
Specifically, 2.3 million Belgians care for children under the age of 15, 600,000 grandparents spend at least one hour per week caring for their grandchildren, and 800,000 Belgians provide care to a partner or other relative (aged 15+) who is vulnerable, ill or has a disability.
This also affects the work-life balance: one in three has adjusted their work schedule or reduced their working time. The impact is particularly pronounced among women: almost half (45.3%) report working fewer hours or having an adjusted work schedule, compared to 25.4% of men.
Care for a partner or family member (aged 15 or over) who is vulnerable, ill or has a disability
About 800,000 people act as caregiver for a partner or other family member (aged 15 or over) who is vulnerable, ill or has a disability. In most cases, the person being cared for is a partner or family member who lives elsewhere (65.5%), but for one third of informal caregivers, the person they are caring for lives in the same household. Women take on a slightly larger share of this care than men: 10.6% of women versus 8.6% of men.
There are also few differences by level of education in terms of care relationships. However, low-skilled people are more likely to care for their partner, whereas highly-skilled people more often care for relatives who do not live with them. The prevalence of caregiving increases with age, although the persons being cared for differ. People aged 25 to 49 more often care for relatives living in their household (most likely children), whereas among those aged 50 and over, the care more often concerns a partner living in the same household.
Providing care for relatives naturally takes time. For 58% of all carers, this amounts to more than five hours per week. Even among those who combine these care responsibilities with a job, more than half (52%) still spend more than 5 hours a week on informal care, although there is a difference here between full-time and part-time workers. Women also spend more time providing care than men.
Sandwich generation
Providing care for someone can be demanding, especially when caring for several people or for different generations at the same time. The so-called “sandwich generation” consists of people who are simultaneously caring for a (grand)child under the age of 15 and for a partner or other family member who is ill, vulnerable or has a disability. In Belgium, this is 280,000 persons aged 18 to 74. Around 150,000 of them juggle these dual care responsibilities with a job. In addition, 4.9 million people have no care responsibilities, while 3.2 million provide care for only one group, either children or a partner/family member.
Women are more likely to reduce their working time when they have care responsibilities
Combining work and care responsibilities is not always easy. More than one in three employed people with care responsibilities (35.1%) report having to make work-related adjustments in order to combine their care responsibilities with their work. Women are more likely to adapt their working arrangements to balance care responsibilities with work. Among employed people with care responsibilities, 45.3% of women say they have made a work-related adjustment, compared to 25.4% of men. Women most often opt to reduce their working hours (19.4%), while men are more likely to adjust their working schedule without reducing their working time (8.7%). A change of employer or position is also more common among women (5.2%) than among men (3.1%).
Care for children
More than 2.3 million people care for children under the age of 15. For 2.1 million of them, these children live in their household. Once again, there are significant differences between men and women. While women more often have their child(ren) living with them (1.1 million versus 1 million men), men more often report that their children do not live with them (92,000 men versus 29,000 women) or that their children live partly with them and partly elsewhere (62,000 men versus 58,000 women).
To facilitate the reconciliation of work and family life, many families use formal childcare services. Up to the age of 10 (of the youngest child), the main reason for not using childcare services is a preference for arranging care alone or with their partner. Informal childcare (such as care provided by grandparents, other relatives, friends or acquaintances) also plays an important role.
Among parents whose youngest child is aged 11 to 14, 54.8% report as the main reason that their children can take care of themselves. Among parents whose youngest child is under the age of 4, 13.1% report not using childcare services because they cannot find a place, because the cost is too high, or because the quality is insufficient.
The share of parents who do not use formal childcare services increases sharply with the age of the youngest child: from 42.6% among those with children under 4 years old to 92.0% among those whose youngest child is aged 11 to 14.
Care for grandchildren
In Belgium, nearly 600,000 grandparents spend at least one hour per week caring for a grandchild under the age of 15. Around 60% of them are women and 40% are men. Most grandparents providing care are over the age of 50 (98.5%), and 80.2% are over 60.
Three in ten are still employed, while seven in ten grandparents who provide care for their grandchildren are not (or are no longer) in employment. Grandparents mainly care for the youngest grandchildren: in 60% of cases, the youngest grandchild is under the age of five. This share decreases with age: 33.0% for grandchildren aged 5 to 10 and 8.4% for grandchildren aged 11 to 14.
A growing share of people find it difficult to balance work and care responsibilities
An increasing number of people experience obstacles to combining work and care responsibilities. In 2025, 44.8% of employed people with caring responsibilities reported facing obstacles, versus 33.0% in 2018. The most commonly reported obstacles are long working hours (13.7%), a demanding job (11.1%) and unpredictable work schedules (10.4%). These three obstacles are reported more frequently in 2025 than in 2018. Long commutes and other obstacles remain stable. Overall, women are more likely than men to report that their job is demanding or exhausting when combined with care responsibilities.
Source
https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/work-training/labour-market/focus-labour-market
Photo @prostooleh, Magnific
