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Belgian regions lose ground on European rankings, London rules

All Belgian regions dropped on the three-yearly European competitiveness ranking. Wallonia was most affected, while in Flanders it was West Flanders losing most ground. The European Commission's rankings take into account factors such as infrastructure, innovation and labour market efficiency.
Michaël Torfs

Brussels was taken together with Flemish and Walloon Brabant. This cluster remains the best scoring region in Belgium. However, whereas Brussels and Brabant occupy 19th place now - on a list of 263 European regions - they still held 14th place in 2013. 

Wallonia generally scores worse than Flanders and Brussels, with Liège losing most places (presently on 122 coming from 79). West Flanders is the worst pupil within the Flemish region, on 58th place. All other Flemish regions have a place within the top-40.

London was the most competitive region in 2016, according to European researchers. It was followed by Utrecht (Netherlands), and the British regions of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The least competitive regions are mainly situated in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and southern Italy.

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