Division in Belgium

Mean streets: life isn't always easy for new immigrants

The report is by the King Baudouin Foundation and it is – remarkably – the first time A Belgium has dug down into the data on poverty and unemployment and looked at how different nationalities and ethnic minorities fare.

The headline: Moroccans and above all Turks are ten times as likely as "the average Belgian" to live in serious poverty.

Bear with me, there are a lot of statistics in this posting, but they are interesting ones (I think). When it comes to poverty and unemployment, Belgium does not so badly, on national averages. The poverty line in Belgium is set at 777 euros (pounds 523, US dollars 973) income a month, which is 60 per cent of the average income.

When you look at the whole of Belgium, only 12.6 per cent of the population lives below this line. But look at the different communities – 60 per cent of Turks live below the poverty line, and 55.5 per cent of Moroccans, 10 per cent of "Belgians", and 21 per cent of people of Italian origin.

The picture is even more skewed for extreme poverty, defined as a monthly income of less than 499 euros (pounds 335, US dollars 624). Only four per cent of the Belgian population falls below that line, but 38.7 per cent of people of Turkish origin, and 25 per cent of Moroccans.

Look at unemployment rates: they are 38 per cent among Turks and Moroccans, six per cent among Belgians, and 12 per cent among residents from other EU nations.

So what does it all mean? Well, the anti-immigrant crowd may say this goes to show how a surly underclass is forming beneath our feet. But to the send-them-back crowd, I would ask: send who back? Who is an immigrant, and who is Belgian?

As with all statistics, you have to be very careful with definitions – especially what you mean by "Belgian". The Belgian press uses rather a sneaky euphemism, "Belgo-Belge", which I have a hunch is meant to indicate white Belgians of long-standing Belgian stock.

But in legal terms, Belgian citizenship is one of the easiest to gain in Europe – the children of mixed marriages get it automatically, as do third generation immigrants, and legal residents after only a few years. As the report's authors point out, half the immigrant population in Belgium now have Belgian nationality – within that half, it divides evenly between those born abroad and naturalized, and those born in Belgium.

Looked at another way, in 2002, records show that 15,832 Moroccans obtained Belgian nationality, 7,805 Turks and 2,341 Italians. If you want to get into deporting immigrants who have not found a job (a policy proposal of the Vlaams Belang), be aware that when the police come pounding on the door, the surplus "foreigner" they are coming to deport may have Belgian children, and Belgian siblings.

Belgium is already a melting pot, like it or not. Personally, I like it. Just come to my local Sunday market in one of the scruffier districts of Brussels, and queue up with the Moroccans, Poles, Brits and other newcomers, as we wait to buy fruit or bread from the stall-holders, many of whom are Belgian-Italian, Belgian-Spanish, or Belgian-Greek, i.e. the descendants of previous waves of immigration of the post-war boom.

What do we all have in common, as we haggle in variously accented forms of French? Well, this is our home. My children go to a local school here, in classes filled with children whose parents speak Polish, Turkish or Arab at home. Do I mind -A how could I dare, when I speak English at home, not the French of their classroom?

There is another moral point, which the report makes well. Belgium invited these foreigners here, in a deliberate policy of state. The first great wave of guest workers came from Italy, to work in the then industrial heartlands of the south of Belgium.

Then, in the late 1950s, the waves of Italians tailed off, and Belgium went on the hunt for guest workers. In 1964, the kingdom signed special treaties with Turkey and Morocco to bring in guest workers.

Now, 40 years on, it is not working out as hoped. What has gone wrong? The report comes up with some tentative hypotheses, helped by 13 focus group sessions with people of migrant background.

Their theories:

 - Migrants of the first generation were convinced they would go home eventually, so they did not invest in their futures (or those of their children) in Belgium. That belief also explains why so much of their money was sent home to family in the home country.

- That first generation was essentially made up of uneducated workers. That lack of education and their lack of knowledge about Belgian society is an important explanation for their poverty.

- In following generations, a poor knowledge of French and/or Dutch is also a factor in their poverty.

- Solidarity within the immigrant community is crumbling. Some people are excluded from such solidarity, anyway, like divorced women: such solidarity is also seen by some as suffocating, and as a brake on integration. People of foreign origin are often victims of discrimination on the labor market, in education and when it comes to housing.

Belgium's Poverty

Poverty can be defined in many different ways. The rate of monetary poverty corresponds to the percentage of the population with an income below the poverty line. The European Union has conventionally set this threshold at 60 p.c. of the median income. Other approaches (such as that based on material deprivation and the subjective approach, subjective in the sense that it relies on the personal perception of the people being surveyed) contribute to a better understanding of the true nature of poverty but they are not a perfect match. The perceived rate of poverty is thus higher in Belgium and France than the poverty rate based on relative income, whereas the reverse is true in the United Kingdom.

The EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) surveys gives a harmonised source of data making it possible to get a good idea of inequality and poverty, at both the Belgian and European levels. The monetary poverty indicators calculated on the basis of the SILC surveys are given preference in this article, even though they are not immune to problems. In particular, disposable income as calculated from the SILC surveys does not take account of several components, including the imputed rent for households that own their home.

Disposable income distribution appears to be slightly more egalitarian in Belgium than the EU15 average, and around 15 p.c. of the population lives below the poverty line in our country, compared with 16 p.c. in the EU15 as a whole.

For households with members of working age, employment offers good protection against poverty, provided a high enough number of hours are worked at an adequate wage level. In Belgium, the minimum wage tends to limit the number of working poor. So, households with a full 100 p.c. work intensity rate in our country enjoy the lowest poverty rate in the EU15, regardless of whether or not they have children in the home.

The importance of employment status is notably illustrated in Belgium by the differences in poverty rates between the three Regions, even though other factors come into play such as differences in terms of demographic composition (type of household, etc.) or housing occupancy status.

Single parents make up the category of households at the highest risk of poverty. The proportion of retirees living below the poverty line is also higher than that among the population of working age. The situation as regards the elderly nevertheless needs to be put into perspective because proportionally more of these people own their home than among the rest of the population.

Education is a key factor for employment. A high level of education goes hand in hand with a lower likelihood of both falling into poverty and remaining poor for long periods of time. Ensuring access to quality education for all is thus essential for promoting equal opportunities. Longitudinal data show that, at any given moment, a large number of people are falling into or getting out of poverty. By comparison with other European countries, Belgium has a very low poverty entry rate, but it also has a fairly low poverty exit rate.

Poverty and Wealth in Belgium

Belgium, like many Western European nations, enjoys a high standard of living and a high per capita income. Each year the United Nations ranks the world's countries in its Human Development Report. Belgium consistently ranks among the top nations in its human development index that measures the quality of life in countries. In the 2000 report, the UN ranked Belgium number-seven—just behind Switzerland and ahead of the Netherlands. Its per capita income was $28,790. Belgium ranked 8th out of 191 countries in terms of per capita income.

There are extremes of wealth and poverty in Belgium. However, the nation's generous social welfare programs prevent abject poverty. Only 3.7 percent of the population falls into the lowest 10 percent of income levels

Distribution of Income or Consumption by Percentage Share: Belgium
Lowest 10%	3.7
Lowest 20%	9.5
Second 20%	14.6
Third 20%	18.4
Fourth 20%	23.0
Highest 20%	34.5
Highest 10%	20.2
Survey year: 1992
Note: This information refers to income shares by percentiles of the population and is ranked by per capita income.
SOURCE: 2000 World Development Indicators [CD-ROM].

while 20.2 percent of the households are in the top 10 percentile.

The nation's social welfare programs are extensive. There are 5 main elements to the Belgian social welfare system : family allowance, unemployment insurance, retirement, medical benefits, and a program that provides salary in the event of illness. Employers contribute the equivalent of 35 percent of a worker's pay to the social welfare system and workers contribute 13 percent of their pay. Many companies also offer supplemental retirement and medical programs. Almost all Belgians are covered by medical insurance. Payments to medical providers were $12.97 billion in 1999. Belgium ranked thirteenth among the 24 OECD nations and fifth among the 15 EU nations. Each region has special councils that provide public assistance and aid to the poor. The National Housing Society provides low-income housing for the poor and immigrants. The Society is also in charge of eliminating slums and revitalizing urban neighborhoods.

Belgium's educational system is among the best in Europe. Freedom of education is a constitutional right in Belgium. Both public and private schools exist, but the government subsidizes private schools since the legal system abolished fees in 1958. Children must attend

Household Consumption in PPP Terms
Country	All Food	Clothing and footwear	Fuel and power a	Health care b	Education b	Transport & Communications	Other
Belgium	17	6	8	3	1	7	57
United States	13	9	9	4	6	8	51
Germany	14	6	7	2	10	7	53
France	22	7	9	3	8	12	40
Data represent percentage of consumption in PPP terms.
a Excludes energy used for transport.
b Includes government and private expenditures.
SOURCE: World Bank. World Development Indicators 2000.

school between the ages of 6 and 18. The nation has 7 universities (4 that teach in French and 3 that teach in Flemish). There are also a number of specialized and technical schools.