Few life moments generate more rituals in modern family culture than the arrival of a baby, from gender reveals and baby showers to the personalised gifts that mark them.
New analysis of birth data reveals which corners of the country are doing the most celebrating, and where the gap between provinces is widest.
According to the analysis by YourSurprise, drawn from Belgium’s Federal Statistical Office, each entity was scored on two variables: total births, weighted at 70%, and the share of mothers aged 25 to 34, weighted at 30%. Each input was normalised so the leading entity scored 100 and the rest scaled proportionally.
Belgium’s national picture: 108,150 births recorded from a population of 11.76 million
| Indicator | Belgium |
| Total births | 108,150 |
| Average births per day (366-day leap year) | 295 |
| Time between births | Once every 4.9 minutes |
| Mothers aged 25 to 34 (share of births) | 9.55% |
| Total population | 11,763,650 |
| Provinces analysed | 10 |
| Regions analysed | 3 |
These national totals form the baseline for the regional and provincial drill-downs that follow, and the rankings show how unevenly Belgium’s newborns are distributed across the country.
Looking at the study, a spokesperson from YourSurprise commented,
“These rankings tell a quieter story behind the headline figures. When a province records nearly 19,000 births in a single year, that translates into thousands of small gatherings, gifts, and gestures from family and friends. Personalised gifting often becomes the way people choose to mark a moment that, for the parents involved, feels singular.”
The Flemish Region accounts for 57.1% of Belgium’s births
| Rank | Region | Total Births | Mothers (25-34) Rate | Population | Score |
| 1 | Flemish Region | 61,781 | 10.34% | 6,821,770 | 100.00 |
| 2 | Wallonia Region | 32,539 | 9.33% | 3,692,283 | 63.94 |
| 3 | Brussels Region | 13,830 | 7.11% | 1,249,597 | 36.30 |
The Flemish Region’s birth output is roughly 1.9 times Wallonia’s and around 4.5 times that of the Brussels Region, a far steeper spread than the population split alone would suggest.
Antwerp tops the provincial ranking with a score of 98.31 out of 100
| Rank | Province | Total Births | Mothers (25-34) Rate | Population | Score |
| 1 | Antwerp | 18,882 | 10.44% | 1,906,942 | 98.31 |
| 2 | East Flanders | 14,594 | 10.00% | 1,591,582 | 81.21 |
| 3 | Hainaut | 12,269 | 9.54% | 1,360,074 | 71.34 |
| 4 | West Flanders | 10,340 | 11.07% | 1,226,375 | 68.33 |
| 5 | Flemish Brabant | 10,643 | 10.07% | 1,196,773 | 66.76 |
| 6 | Liège | 9,992 | 9.17% | 1,119,038 | 61.89 |
| 7 | Limburg | 7,322 | 10.16% | 900,098 | 54.68 |
| 8 | Namur | 4,262 | 9.05% | 503,895 | 40.32 |
| 9 | Luxembourg | 2,787 | 10.11% | 295,146 | 37.73 |
| 10 | Walloon Brabant | 3,229 | 8.87% | 414,130 | 36.01 |
Antwerp’s score sits over 17 points clear of second-placed East Flanders on 81.21, with the leading three provinces all clearing 70 out of 100. Below them, the field thins more gradually, with 7 of the 10 provinces still above the 50-point halfway mark.
West Flanders leads in the share of young mothers at 11.07% of provincial births
| Rank | Province | Mothers (25-34) Rate |
| 1 | West Flanders | 11.07% |
| 2 | Antwerp | 10.44% |
| 3 | Limburg | 10.16% |
| 4 | Luxembourg | 10.11% |
| 5 | Flemish Brabant | 10.07% |
Four of the five provinces with the highest mother rates (25- 34) sit within the Flemish Region, signalling a concentration of younger mothers in the north and adding weight to the regional tilt seen in absolute volumes.
Antwerp leads on births per 1,000 residents at 9.90
| Rank | Province | Births per 1,000 Residents |
| 1 | Antwerp | 9.90 |
| 2 | Luxembourg | 9.44 |
| 3 | East Flanders | 9.17 |
| 4 | Hainaut | 9.02 |
| 5 | Liège | 8.93 |
Antwerp tops the density-adjusted ranking despite its scale, while Luxembourg’s second place at 9.44 stands out: with only 2,787 births in absolute terms, the small southern province punches above its weight on a per-capita basis.
Methodology
The analysis draws on two datasets: Births and Fertility (Provisional Results) and Population Density. The scope covers Belgium’s 10 provinces and 3 regions, using provisional figures. Two variables were scored for each entity: total births and the share of mothers aged 25 to 34. Each variable was normalised, so the top performer scores 100, with all other entities scaled proportionally. The Baby Shower Likelihood Score combines the two inputs, with total births weighted at 70% and the mothers’ (25-34) rate at 30%. The 25-to 34 demographic was selected because it represents the age bracket most associated with hosting baby showers and gender reveals in contemporary family culture.
