Brussels, 16 June 2026 Belgian companies have significantly improved their payment behaviour over the past year, according to the annual Payment Study* by data processing company Altares Dun & Bradstreet. The study analysed business transactions across fourteen Northern European markets and maps the evolution of intercompany payment behaviour.
The research shows that the share of invoices paid on the due date increased from 38.1% at the end of 2024 to 47.3% in Q4 2025. That represents an improvement of 9.2 percentage points and is among the strongest gains of all Northern European countries surveyed.
Despite this clear progress, Belgium remains one of the weakest performers in the Northern European comparison. With 47.3% of payments made on time, Belgium is well below the regional average and far behind the top performers. Denmark recorded as much as 94.9% on-time payments in Q4 2025, followed by Poland with 86.6% and neighbouring Netherlands with 74.7%.
| On-time payments | Q4 2025 |
|---|---|
| Ireland | 45,50% |
| Belgium | 47,30% |
| Finland | 54,70% |
| Luxembourg | 54,80% |
| Sweden | 56,70% |
| United Kingdom | 60,50% |
| Germany | 63,80% |
| Czech Republic | 63,80% |
| Switzerland | 68,50% |
| The Netherlands | 74,70% |
| Russia | 80,90% |
| Poland | 86,60% |
| Denmark | 94,90% |
Sharp decline in extremely late payments
The share of invoices paid more than 90 days after the due date also fell significantly. At the end of 2025, this figure stood at just 1.5%, compared to 2.4% a year earlier. This marks Belgium’s largest decline in extremely late payments across Northern Europe.
"'Belgian figures show that companies are getting a better grip on their payment processes. The sharp drop in payments more than 90 days overdue is particularly a positive signal. Such delays are often an important indicator of financial stress within companies. At the same time, Belgium remains behind the best-performing countries in Northern Europe, indicating there is still significant room for further improvement,” said Barry de Goeij, Leader Data Science, Trade & CSM at Altares Dun & Bradstreet.
Large differences between sectors
The study also shows that payment behaviour varies significantly by sector. The best performance is seen in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, where 56.4% of invoices are paid on time. Financial services (52.0%) and the services sector (52.7%) also perform relatively well.
At the other end of the spectrum are transport and distribution, where only 34.2% of invoices are paid on time. The industrial and manufacturing sector (38.3%) and the construction sector (42.8%) also lag behind.
Smaller companies perform better than large enterprises
A notable finding is that smaller companies generally perform better than larger ones. Belgian micro-enterprises achieve a rate of 49.2% on-time payments, while large enterprises reach 40.4%
This pattern is visible in almost all countries surveyed and suggests that smaller organisations can often make decisions more quickly and maintain tighter control over day-to-day cash flow management.
“Overall, there is clear progress in Belgian payment behaviour. The results show that Belgian companies took important steps in Q4 2025 towards healthier payment practices. The combination of more timely payments and fewer extremely late payments (+90 days) strengthens the financial stability of companies and their suppliers. However, the challenge remains significant. The considerable gap with countries such as Denmark, Poland and the Netherlands underlines that Belgium is still not part of Europe’s leading group,” concluded Barry de Goeij .
The full report can be here downloaded here.
