Social media usage in Belgium: which platform reaches whom

In 2025, 67.7 percent of people in Belgium aged 16 to 74 took part in social networks, according to Eurostat: just above the EU average of 67.3 percent, and down from 72.3 percent a year earlier. By platform, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram lead. In Flanders, 91 percent use WhatsApp, 67 percent Facebook and 51 percent Instagram at least monthly (imec.digimeter 2025).

For a brand planning campaigns in Belgium, averages hide the choice that matters: which platform reaches the people you sell to. This page sets the official figures side by side by age and by platform, adds how Belgian companies use social media, and shows which channels the websites of 599 Belgian small businesses link to. Belgium has two main language markets; the platform figures below cover Flanders, the Dutch-speaking north, where the most detailed survey runs. How to turn this into a plan is in how to use social media for business.

Social media usage by age in Belgium

Eurostat asks every year whether people were active on a social network in the last three months: creating a profile, posting or reacting. Among the young it is nearly everyone; from 55 it drops fast.

The Belgian drop in 2025 sits mostly in the 35 to 54 age groups, six to seven points lower. Across the EU the figure rose. At 67.7 percent Belgium now ranks twentieth of 27, just above the EU average; Denmark reaches 89.7 percent, Germany 59.2. One year does not make a trend, but it is worth watching if your audience is in mid-career.

Which platform reaches whom

Eurostat does not measure per platform. The imec.digimeter does: a yearly survey of 3,001 people in Flanders, drawn from the national register, last run from 8 September to 16 November 2025.

Facebook keeps the widest reach among adults: two in three use it monthly, half of them daily. Instagram grew three points on daily use; X lost five points on monthly use. LinkedIn reaches one in five, but only 4 percent open it every day.

Among 18 to 24 year olds the picture flips. Instagram reaches 90 percent of them and Snapchat 75 percent, and 81 percent open Instagram every day. Facebook falls to 28 percent daily use in that group, ten points down in a year. TikTok reaches 65 percent of young adults but only 17 percent of all adults; its users spend 59 minutes a day on it, more than on any other app imec tracks.

Among 25 to 34 year olds, Instagram (76 percent) and Facebook (75 percent) are level, and LinkedIn reaches 31 percent, against 19 percent of all adults. That is where a B2B brand finds many of its younger decision makers.

How much time Belgians spend online

Statbel published in December 2025 how many hours a day people in Belgium spend online. The average is 3.7 hours, with a wide spread.

16 to 24 year olds average over five hours a day, 25 to 34 year olds 4.9 hours and 45 to 54 year olds 3.6 hours. Which formats and platforms gain ground next year is in our social media trends 2027.

How Belgian companies use social media

On the business side Belgium is well above the EU. In 2025, 81.1 percent of Belgian enterprises with ten or more employees used at least one social medium, against 63.6 percent across the EU.

Among small firms (10 to 49 employees) it is 78.9 percent against 60.6 percent in the EU; among firms with 250 or more, 95.3 percent. Beside the neighbours:

Only the Netherlands is higher. On social networks Belgium ranked seventh of the 27 member states in 2023 (Eurostat flags a break in the French series that year). For a foreign brand that means Belgian competitors are already present: showing up is not enough to stand out.

Which channels small business websites link to

Eurostat stops at ten employees. To see which channels smaller Belgian firms actually use, we counted the social links on the home pages of 427 small business websites. A link is not proof of an active account, but it is a choice the customer sees.

Two in three small business sites link to at least one social platform. Facebook leads by a distance at 60.0 percent, against 42.4 percent for Instagram. TikTok (5.2 percent) and WhatsApp (4.4 percent) barely appear, although two in three people in Flanders open WhatsApp every day. The split by sector is sharp: beauty and leisure businesses link to Instagram most (65.5 percent), hospitality and retail to Facebook (74.2 and 67.7 percent), and business services are the only sector where LinkedIn counts, at 45.3 percent.

Choosing channels for the Belgian market

• Choose Facebook and Instagram togetherif you sell to consumers aged 25 to 65. Facebook has the reach, Instagram the growth, and one Meta account runs ads on both; costs are in Facebook ads cost.
• Choose Instagram, with TikTok as a testfor an audience under 25. That is where they spend their day, watching rather than reading.
• Choose LinkedInif you sell to companies. Its reach is small, but it sits with the 25 to 34 year olds and the decision makers. Our notes on the LinkedIn algorithm in 2026 and a LinkedIn company page cover the basics.
• Choose WhatsApp as a contact channel, not an ad channel. Two in three people in Flanders open it daily.

Belgium also asks for two languages: Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia and most of Brussels. A campaign in one language reaches half the country; see a website in French and Dutch. A ready-made monthly schedule is in our social media plan template, and outsourcing costs are in social media management pricing. If you want a partner on the ground, see social media management or book a call.

Method and limits

The Eurostat figures come from the 2025 EU surveys on ICT usage, run in Belgium by Statbel: individuals aged 16 to 74, and enterprises with ten or more employees outside finance. The per-platform figures come from the imec.digimeter 2025 and cover Flanders, not all of Belgium. The Digimeter asks about use, Eurostat about taking part in social networks, so the two do not line up exactly.

Our own count of links on small business websites is a sample from OpenStreetMap and says nothing about how active an account is. The full method is on the state of Belgian business websites in 2026.