Rural Belgium: €80 grocery basket and triple salaries, according to a forum user
A forum user compares a month in rural Belgium: €60–80 grocery basket and salaries that triple; others add €100 insurance and half a year without sun
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
A month in rural Belgium: an €80 basket and salaries that triple, according to a forum user
Is life better in rural northern Europe than in Spain doing the same job? Someone who spent a month travelling through towns in Belgium and the Netherlands says yes, and backs it up with three figures: a weekly grocery basket of €60 to €80, petrol cheaper than in Spain and salaries that, they claim, are two or three times those here. The comparison has reignited the classic argument about industry, purchasing power and what isn’t being told.
The first-hand account immediately runs into a problem: the €60–80 basket doesn’t add up for everyone. Some say they were recently in rural Holland and claim that kind of money barely buys four things. Others say filling a cart for €50 is simply impossible. One participant argues that groceries are only 10–15% more expensive than in Spain, not 50% more.
The wage gap is another recurring point. A forum user says the average salary there is double Spain’s, while housing is in a similar range and fuel is only about 10% higher. With those ingredients, the picture the thread paints is far from paradise.
The small print: health insurance and tax bracket
According to several accounts, health insurance and tax bracket have to be deducted from the salary. One participant adds that mandatory health insurance costs more than €100 a month and that, as soon as the salary rises a little, the tax bracket takes around 50% of the pay. Winter bills of €300 are, according to these same accounts, the most normal thing in the world. The small print eats up a good part of the gross salary that so impresses the visitor.
Healthcare enters the equation through the back door. There are cases of expats who go to the local doctor, receive the usual “rest and ibuprofen” and end up returning to their country to treat a serious problem. Several accounts point to late referrals to a specialist. These are anecdotes, not statistics, and should be read as anecdotes.
Industry and EU entry, according to a forum user
The comparison soon drifts toward the productive structure. Some argue the gap isn’t a matter of Brussels but of domestic decisions: the north kept its factories, while here the bet was on bricks and services. One participant claims that joining the Community banned public aid to Spanish industry —to avoid distorting competition— and that, without that safety net, the industrial fabric collapsed in exchange for cohesion funds.
One of the episodes mentioned is that of the plants that left: Renault factories dismantled in the late nineties to move production lines to the neighbouring country, small maintenance firms at Volvo Trucks plants where a month of 10–12-hour days is offset by two weeks of holiday. The forum user describing Volvo Trucks argues that the key isn’t the monthly salary but the total for the year.
Why are migrants barely seen in rural areas?
The other axis is sociological. One participant says that in small districts there is barely any population of immigrant origin, while in large cities such as Brussels, Rotterdam or Charleroi they say they see more diversity. Some argue that in central and northern Europe there is a more rigid tradition of spatial segregation than in Spain, where cities are more recent and mix classes and origins more quickly.
Against that reading, another forum user points out that the more rural and more expensive the neighbourhood, the less marginal population, whether foreign or native. The forum user adds that this happens everywhere.
The price that doesn’t show up in the paycheck: half a year without sun
The final twist is climate-related. Several messages recall that at those latitudes you can go up to half a year without regularly seeing the sun, that real summer lasts two weeks —and not every year—, that people shut themselves indoors at five in the afternoon and that fruit ripens in cold storage before reaching the plate. Paradise has convent hours and the heating on full blast.
Even geography gets involved: the highest point in the Netherlands is Vaalserberg, at 322.4 metres, and Belgium’s is Signal de Botrange, at 694. In the Cantabrian Mountains there are more than 14,500 catalogued peaks and the vast majority exceed 500 metres. We win on curves. With that and the terraces, we’ll see about the rest.
The thread mixes figures provided by participants, healthcare anecdotes and geographical comparisons. There is no official data in the material: everything is perceptions and testimonials from forum users.
Is life better in rural northern Europe than in Spain doing the same job? Someone who spent a month travelling through towns in Belgium and the Netherlands says yes, and backs it up with three figures: a weekly grocery basket of €60 to €80, petrol cheaper than in Spain and salaries that, they claim, are two or three times those here. The comparison has reignited the classic argument about industry, purchasing power and what isn’t being told.
The first-hand account immediately runs into a problem: the €60–80 basket doesn’t add up for everyone. Some say they were recently in rural Holland and claim that kind of money barely buys four things. Others say filling a cart for €50 is simply impossible. One participant argues that groceries are only 10–15% more expensive than in Spain, not 50% more.
The wage gap is another recurring point. A forum user says the average salary there is double Spain’s, while housing is in a similar range and fuel is only about 10% higher. With those ingredients, the picture the thread paints is far from paradise.
The small print: health insurance and tax bracket
According to several accounts, health insurance and tax bracket have to be deducted from the salary. One participant adds that mandatory health insurance costs more than €100 a month and that, as soon as the salary rises a little, the tax bracket takes around 50% of the pay. Winter bills of €300 are, according to these same accounts, the most normal thing in the world. The small print eats up a good part of the gross salary that so impresses the visitor.
Healthcare enters the equation through the back door. There are cases of expats who go to the local doctor, receive the usual “rest and ibuprofen” and end up returning to their country to treat a serious problem. Several accounts point to late referrals to a specialist. These are anecdotes, not statistics, and should be read as anecdotes.
Industry and EU entry, according to a forum user
The comparison soon drifts toward the productive structure. Some argue the gap isn’t a matter of Brussels but of domestic decisions: the north kept its factories, while here the bet was on bricks and services. One participant claims that joining the Community banned public aid to Spanish industry —to avoid distorting competition— and that, without that safety net, the industrial fabric collapsed in exchange for cohesion funds.
One of the episodes mentioned is that of the plants that left: Renault factories dismantled in the late nineties to move production lines to the neighbouring country, small maintenance firms at Volvo Trucks plants where a month of 10–12-hour days is offset by two weeks of holiday. The forum user describing Volvo Trucks argues that the key isn’t the monthly salary but the total for the year.
Why are migrants barely seen in rural areas?
The other axis is sociological. One participant says that in small districts there is barely any population of immigrant origin, while in large cities such as Brussels, Rotterdam or Charleroi they say they see more diversity. Some argue that in central and northern Europe there is a more rigid tradition of spatial segregation than in Spain, where cities are more recent and mix classes and origins more quickly.
Against that reading, another forum user points out that the more rural and more expensive the neighbourhood, the less marginal population, whether foreign or native. The forum user adds that this happens everywhere.
The price that doesn’t show up in the paycheck: half a year without sun
The final twist is climate-related. Several messages recall that at those latitudes you can go up to half a year without regularly seeing the sun, that real summer lasts two weeks —and not every year—, that people shut themselves indoors at five in the afternoon and that fruit ripens in cold storage before reaching the plate. Paradise has convent hours and the heating on full blast.
Even geography gets involved: the highest point in the Netherlands is Vaalserberg, at 322.4 metres, and Belgium’s is Signal de Botrange, at 694. In the Cantabrian Mountains there are more than 14,500 catalogued peaks and the vast majority exceed 500 metres. We win on curves. With that and the terraces, we’ll see about the rest.
The thread mixes figures provided by participants, healthcare anecdotes and geographical comparisons. There is no official data in the material: everything is perceptions and testimonials from forum users.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (251 replies).
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