Which has higher life expectancy, Belgium or Netherlands?

Netherlands, at 82.16 years against 82.11 years in Belgium as of 2023.

What is the difference in life expectancy between Belgium and Netherlands?

0.05 years, with Netherlands ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Belgium and Netherlands?

169 years are reported by both, from 1850 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Life expectancy. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Belgium vs Netherlands: Life expectancy

Belgium

82.11 years

in 2023

Netherlands

82.16 years

in 2023

Belgium rank

35th

Netherlands rank

34th

Life expectancy over time

Belgium
Netherlands

How they compare

Netherlands currently reports 82.16 years against 82.11 years in Belgium, a difference of 0.05 years.

The two have swapped places 9 times across 169 shared years of data; in 1850 it was Belgium ahead.

Belgium ranks 35th and Netherlands ranks 34th of 236 countries.

Across the 18 decades both report, Belgium averaged higher in 4 and Netherlands in 14.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Belgium	Netherlands	Difference	Ahead
1850s	40.52 years	37.03 years	3.48 years	Belgium
1860s	40.89 years	37.55 years	3.34 years	Belgium
1870s	42.19 years	39.15 years	3.03 years	Belgium
1880s	44.64 years	42.96 years	1.68 years	Belgium
1890s	45.94 years	46.87 years	0.926 years	Netherlands
1900s	49.49 years	51.64 years	2.14 years	Netherlands
1910s	50.91 years	55.52 years	4.61 years	Netherlands
1920s	56.15 years	61.69 years	5.54 years	Netherlands
1930s	59.3 years	66.23 years	6.93 years	Netherlands
1940s	60.5 years	65.62 years	5.12 years	Netherlands
1950s	68.48 years	72.35 years	3.87 years	Netherlands
1960s	70.45 years	73.54 years	3.09 years	Netherlands
1970s	71.98 years	74.54 years	2.57 years	Netherlands
1980s	74.47 years	76.38 years	1.91 years	Netherlands
1990s	76.82 years	77.51 years	0.6862 years	Netherlands
2000s	78.87 years	79.34 years	0.4732 years	Netherlands
2010s	80.9 years	81.46 years	0.552 years	Netherlands
2020s	81.43 years	81.7 years	0.272 years	Netherlands

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher life expectancy, Belgium or Netherlands?: Netherlands, at 82.16 years against 82.11 years in Belgium as of 2023.
What is the difference in life expectancy between Belgium and Netherlands?: 0.05 years, with Netherlands ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Belgium and Netherlands?: 169 years are reported by both, from 1850 to 2023.
How do Belgium and Netherlands rank globally for life expectancy?: Belgium ranks 35th and Netherlands ranks 34th of 236 countries.
Where does this data come from?: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Life expectancy. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator: Life expectancy
Unit: years
Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 236 places, 19,452 data points, 1543–2023
Last refreshed: 06 August 2026

Period life expectancy is the number of years the average person born in a certain year would live if they experienced the same chances of dying at each age as people did that year.