Belgian Cooperative Monitor 2021
EXPLORING THE BELGIAN COOPERATIVE ECONOMY (2011-2020)
The Belgian Cooperative Monitor 2021 presents a profile of cooperative enterprises in Belgium (2011-2020). In this third edition (after 2013 and 2017), the impact of the new Code for Companies and Associations appears for the first time, giving us an increasingly accurate numerical picture of the importance of cooperative enterprises in our country.
READ FULL REPORT IN DUTCH READ FULL REPORT IN FRENCH
You can also explore the Top 100 of cooperatives according to their turnover:
- All cooperative societies: in NL / in FR
- Cooperatives recognized by the National Council for Cooperation: in NL / in FR
Authors: Matthias Staessens, Frédéric Dufays and Adrien Billiet, in collaboration with Hannes Hollebecq and Lieve Jacobs (Cera)
In a nutshell
Belgium currently has 19,607 cooperative societies, which is 1% of all Belgian companies. This figure is decreasing significantly, especially after the new Code on Companies and Associations comes into force in 2019. In the past, many companies chose the cooperative legal form because of the legal flexibility it offered. The cooperative legal form still enjoys this flexibility in the new Code, but it is also found in other legal forms. In particular, the new Code has provided a definition of the cooperative society which is clearly inspired by the international definition of the cooperative (as formulated by the International Cooperative Alliance). This leads to a better alignment of the cooperative model and the legal form. In order to comply with the new Code, 1,165 cooperative societies adopted a different legal form between May 2019 and December 2020.
Despite this decrease in the number of cooperatives, their relative contribution to GDP and employment in Belgium continues to grow. In 2019, they represented 3% of GDP (calculated on the basis of gross value added) and 3.5% of employment (116,257 employees or 114,514 FTEs). In reality, the economic weight of cooperatives is even greater, as conventional statistics do not correctly reflect the specific economic model of the cooperative and its objectives.
Cooperatives are more robust enterprises. Start-ups that adopt a cooperative model have a higher survival rate after 5 years than other enterprises (74% compared to 68.7%). Also, cooperatives have shown great resilience during the crisis of covid-19, which can be explained in particular by their strong territorial anchorage and their own identity which puts solidarity and mutual aid at the heart of their action.
Cooperatives are a very diverse group of enterprises. For example, among the 627 cooperative societies recognized by the National Council for Cooperation, there are mainly producers' cooperatives, but also consumers' cooperatives, workers' cooperatives and multiparty cooperatives. They are present in almost all sectors of activity. Together they have at least 1.3 million members. And this is an underestimate, as the Belgian Cooperative Monitor shows.
Although cooperatives are often considered small businesses in the collective imagination, some of them are in fact large enterprises. The top 100 cooperatives by turnover (in NL / in FR for all cooperatives; in NL / in FR for the recognized cooperatives), which is part of this publication, shows that 13 cooperatives have a turnover of more than 100 million euros and 31 have a turnover of more than 9,000,000 euros.
The cooperative model can provide an answer to today's major societal challenges. It is therefore not surprising that the Belgian authorities (federal and regional) are developing measures to support the development and strengthening of cooperatives.