Last year 157,151 people in Belgium visited a food bank last year. This is 14,000 up on the figures for 2016. With the increase in the number of those using food banks, the volume of food distributed by the 9 food banks through their network of 626 charitable organisations has also increased.

Last year a total of 16,488 tonnes of food were distributed to the needy. This is 1.5 tonnes more than in 2016.

Those using food banks are usually single, one-parent families, and unemployed, people that have lost their businesses through bankruptcy or people with foreign roots.

Rising energy prices and the spectacular rise in rents in recent years are forcing more and more people on low incomes to get at least some of their food from food banks.