Social security

Anyone living and working in Belgium has to pay social security contributions to receive Belgian social security benefits. This means that you might be entitled to pension, unemployment benefits, allowances following an accident at work, occupational sickness insurance, family allowances, compulsory insurance for medical care and benefits and annual holidays.

If you are employed under a contract or are a doctoral scholarship holder, 13.07% of your gross monthly salary will be deducted for social security contributions. For statutory employees the amount is 11.05%.

Doctoral scholarship holders and postdoctoral researchers who receive a grant and who come from countries with which Belgium does not have a bilateral agreement pay a reduced social security contribution of 4.7%.

In the case of partial social security contributions (4.7%), you are only entitled to receive sickness and disability allowances and family allowances. You do not pay pension contributions, and you are not entitled to benefits when your employment ends.

Belgium has bilateral agreements concerning social security with 27 countries. This means that if you come from one of these countries, your social security entitlements depend on the provisions within the particular agreement.

If this applies to you, you can find information on bilateral agreements on the website of the Belgian social security.

If you continue to live in another country (cross-border employment) or have several employers in different countries (simultaneous employment), you might need to pay social security contributions abroad. Please contact your HR officer or the International Staff Office to discuss the formalities.