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Education

NACE 85
Current registrations 35,443
Starters, 12 months 4,01711.3 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 421.2 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 27,952862 employers · latest accounts
Median age 5.9 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 77.2%27,378 of 35,443 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

292 companies file their annual accounts outside the standard format, for example in a sector format. Their figures and staff are missing from the employment, the medians and the largest employers.

Show the 292 companies

Activities

NACE division 85 · 40 activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Sports and recreation education85510 13,587 2,010 17 360
Other education85599 11,630 1,243 11 2,632
Vocational training85592 3,008 248 6 4,874
Cultural education85520 2,035 211 0 550
Driving schools for cars and motorcycles85531 1,039 97 6 1,211
Socio-cultural adult education85593 994 63 0 585
Other educational support services85699 948 89 1 471
Subsidised independent mainstream primary education85204 598 2 0 1,143
Education85314 431 1 0 2,984
Education85532 292 21 0 62
Education85311 200 0 0 -
Education85409 146 6 1 489
Show all 40 activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Education85591 113 3 0 320
Education85691 88 1 0 30
Education85402 68 1 0 9,095
Education85201 62 1 0 -
Education85324 61 1 0 693
Education85401 61 2 0 76
Education85207 54 1 0 400
Education85319 52 2 0 278
Education85326 42 0 0 508
Education85329 33 0 0 1
Education85209 32 0 0 496
Education85321 31 0 0 -
Education85206 29 0 0 212
Education85205 27 0 0 -
Education85610 27 18 0 14
Education85325 21 0 0 -
Education85104 17 0 0 12
Education85101 7 0 0 10
Education85109 7 0 0 16
Education85330 7 0 0 -
Education85203 6 0 0 -
Education85323 6 0 0 138
Education85322 4 0 0 292
Education85105 2 0 0 -
Education85312 2 0 0 -
Education85313 2 1 0 -
Education85103 1 0 0 -
Education85202 1 0 0 -

Filed accounts

NACE division 85 · financial year 2025 · 4,407 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
46.5%
Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€8,935
Belgium €16,490
Median equity
€66,785
Belgium €98,313
Loss-making
31.0%
Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
14.2%
Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
10.7%
Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.94
Belgium 1.66
Filed late
32.0%
financial year 2024, 4,194 filings · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
6.6%
of 5,020 companies with annual accounts · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year20182019202020212022202320242025
Median solvency --47.6%49.2%48.6%48.2%49.3%47.5%
Median net result --€10,255€11,336€8,977€8,654€8,678€8,813
Filed late 34.7%47.5%36.9%37.5%35.7%34.5%32.0%-

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 85

741 employers
Median
€65,000
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€49,100 to €81,600
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
42 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €63,500 €44,500 to €83,400 375
10 to 49 FTE €64,800 €54,000 to €78,300 311
50 to 249 FTE €74,400 €55,200 to €82,700 49

Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
84
0.24% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%

Bankruptcies per year in division 85

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies273633494850294759626263
Jobs lost3550611028112255150119107111108

2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
28-10-2026 UQ
BE 0669.828.154
14-10-2026 De Taaltoren
BE 0776.549.534
02-10-2026 BWMA Association
BE 0537.808.679
30-09-2026 De Saedeleer, Tjalina
BE 0776.856.172 · sole trader · Kruisem
28-09-2026 MALUKA FOOTBALL TRAINING SRL
BE 0770.589.378
25-09-2026 La Bellegolaise
BE 1018.379.343
09-09-2026 De Smet, Sylvie
BE 0648.557.638 · sole trader · Bruges
25-08-2026 Cornélis, Pierre
BE 0504.919.543 · sole trader · Verviers

Every bankruptcy in division 85, last 90 days

Running bankruptcies in the sector

NACE division 85
Number
66
Half have run longer than
14 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
27%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 108,725 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 28% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn. After five years, 20% were still open. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).

This counts companies with this main activity in the register on 11 November 2026. The outcome itself is not measured by sector. The activity of a company that leaves the register after its bankruptcy is too often not kept to compare closed cases fairly.

Outcome by court and division

Spread across the country

by region and province · 11,621 of 35,443 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 6,069 · 52.2%
  • Wallonia 3,637 · 31.3%
  • Brussels 1,762 · 15.2%
  • Abroad 153 · 1.3%
fewer moremax 1,886

This sector's balance sheets on the map, by municipality and down to the address

Largest employers

NACE division 85 · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 Université Catholique de LouvainOttignies-Louvain-la-Neuve 5,468 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 ArteveldehogeschoolGhent 1,153 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 Université de NamurNamur 1,044 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 Haute Ecole Léonard de VinciWoluwe-Saint-Lambert 599 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 Les Ecoles de l' ACISNamur 430 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 1,176 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 442
  • 152 Subsidised private schools 142
  • 225 White-collar workers in subsidised private schools 134
  • 329.02 Socio-cultural sector 106
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 83
  • 329.01 Socio-cultural sector 75
  • 337 Auxiliary committee for the non-profit sector 63
  • 152.01 Subsidised private schools 56
Show the 12 others
  • 152.02 Subsidised private schools 46
  • 225.02 White-collar workers in subsidised private schools 44
  • 329 Socio-cultural sector 43
  • 225.01 White-collar workers in subsidised private schools 42
  • 314 Hairdressing and beauty care 42
  • 335 Services and support for business and the self-employed 39
  • 302 Hotels and catering 30
  • 330.04 Health institutions and services 12
  • 201 Independent retail 11
  • 330 Health institutions and services 11
  • 329.03 Socio-cultural sector 9
  • 332 French- and German-speaking welfare and health sector 8

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

8 of the 11,081 companies in NACE division 85 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Netherlands (3), France (2) and Spain (1). Together they employ 151 of the division's 27,953 FTE: 0.5%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €2.52bn awarded 1,675 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Subsidies voor de bouw en renovatie van scholen
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €4.68bn paid 1,333 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Allocation de fonctionnement à l'Université catholique de Louvain
  • Federal transfers 257.0m amount as published 83 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Dotatie aan het Instituut voor gerechtelijke opleiding
  • EU budget €1.21bn attributed share 87 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Horizon Europe
  • EU research €2.43bn EU contribution 44 recipients · 2007 to 2027 · largest: Horizon Europe

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Education

Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €8,935 is below Belgium's €16,490. Return on equity of 10.7% is below Belgium's 15.9%. Liquidity of 1.94 is above Belgium's 1.66.

Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 1.2 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 77% of the 87 other NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.0% is below Belgium's 0.2%. By size, the median bankruptcy probability is 0.1% at under 10 FTE, 0.0% at 10 to 49 FTE, 0.0% at 50 to 249 FTE and 0.0% at 250 FTE or more.

Inflow and structure. 67.2% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. Wallonia holds 31.7% of the seats, against 22.7% in Belgium. Half of the companies are younger than 5.9 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium.

Staff and filing. 32.0% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 8,692 of the 27,952 FTE: 31.1%.

Direction. The median net result fell from €10,255 in financial year 2020 to €8,813 in financial year 2025. In 2025, Statbel counted 62 bankruptcies and 111 jobs lost, against 50 bankruptcies in 2020.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 11-11-2026 05:30.

Method and sources

Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 85 exists.

The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,276,472 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,781 registrations publish no activity.

Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.

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