Northwestern Europe is home to the nation of Belgium, or officially the Kingdom of Belgium. The Netherlands borders the nation on the north, Germany borders it on the east, Luxembourg borders it on the southeast, France borders it on the south, and the North Sea borders it on the west.
With a population of almost 11.7 million people living in an area of 30,689 km2 (11,849 sq mi) and a density of 383/km2 (990/sq mi), it is the sixth most densely inhabited country in Europe and the 22nd most densely populated country overall. Historically, the Low Countries, which included sections of northern France, were a slightly wider territory than the Benelux group of states, of which Belgium is a part. Brussels serves as both the nation’s capital and the main metropolitan area; other significant cities include Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven.
Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy that operates under parliamentary government and is a sovereign state. Its institutional framework is complicated and is based on both regional and linguistic bases. The Flemish Region (Flanders) in the north, the Walloon Region (Wallonia) in the south, and the Brussels-Capital Region in the center make up its three largely independent areas.
In terms of GDP per capita, Brussels is the richest area, as well as the smallest and most densely inhabited. Belgium is also home to two large language communities: the Flemish Community (Dutch), which forms roughly 60 percent of the population, and the French Community, which constitutes about 40 percent of the population.
There is a little German-speaking community in the East Cantons, comprising around 1% of the total population. Although Dutch is the primary language and lingua franca in the Brussels-Capital Region, French is the official language spoken there as well. Belgium’s complicated six-government structure reflects the country’s linguistic diversity and associated political difficulties.
Due to its strategic location, Belgium has enjoyed considerable prosperity over the ages, enjoying political and commercial ties to its larger neighbors. The nation was founded as it was now during the Belgian Revolution of 1830 when it broke away from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which had absorbed the Southern Netherlands (which included the majority of present-day Belgium) following the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
The new state’s name comes from the Latin term Belgium, which was used to refer to a neighboring area in the time of Julius Caesar’s “Gallic Wars” about 55 BCE. Being the scene of two world wars in the 20th century, Belgium has also been dubbed “the Battlefield of Europe” due to its role as a battlefield for European nations.
In addition to taking part in the Industrial Revolution, Belgium had several colonies throughout the 20th century, most notably the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi. The years 1960–1962 saw the independence of these territories. Dutch-speaking and French-speaking people became more tense in the second half of the 20th century due to linguistic and cultural disparities as well as the unequal economic development of Wallonia and Flanders. This ongoing hostility has resulted in a number of extensive state changes, which from 1970 to 1993 saw the country go from a unitary to a federal structure.
Tensions have remained despite the reforms: the Flemish have a strong separatist sentiment, language laws, such as those pertaining to municipalities with language facilities, have generated a lot of controversy, and the time it took to form a government after the 2010 federal election set a world record with 589 days. Wallonia’s unemployment rate is more than twice as high as Flanders’, which had a post-World War II boom.
Belgium has a sophisticated, high-income economy and is a developed nation. Being home to the official offices of the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, and one of the two seats of the European Parliament (the other being Strasbourg), the nation is one of the founding members of the European Union.
Brussels, the capital of the country, serves as the de facto capital of the EU. In addition, Belgium is a founding member of the trilateral Benelux Union, the Schengen Area, NATO, OECD, and the WTO. The headquarters of several significant international organizations, including NATO, are located in Brussels.
Past Events
Antiquity
Julius Caesar said that the Belgae were the people who lived in the northernmost region of Gaul. They inhabited an area far larger than modern-day Belgium, extending from Paris to the Rhine. Nonetheless, he also expressly referred to a politically dominating portion of that region—which is currently in northernmost France—as “Belgium” using the Latin name.
On the other hand, the domains of the most northern Belgae, the Morini, Menapii, Nervii, Germani Cisrhenani, and Aduatuci, approximate modern-day Belgium and its surrounding regions in the Netherlands and Germany. Caesar referred to these peoples as kinsmen of the Germanic tribes east of the Rhine and considered them to be especially warlike and economically primitive.
The region surrounding Arlon in southern Belgium belonged to the nation of the influential Treveri, to whom a portion of them rendered homage.
Gallia Belgica was the Latin name for a vast Roman province that included the Treveri and Belgae and covered much of Northern Gaul following Caesar’s conquests. However, regions nearer the lower Rhine barrier—including the eastern portion of contemporary Belgium—were later included in Germania Inferior, a frontier province that carried on its interactions with neighbors outside the empire.
A mixture of Romanized people and Germanic-speaking Franks lived in the Roman provinces of Belgica and Germany during the fall of the Western Roman Empire’s central administration, and the latter group eventually came to control the military and political elite.
Middle Ages
The region was ruled by the Frankish Merovingian rulers in the 5th century. They first created a monarchy over the Romanized people living in what is now northern France, and then they subjugated the other Frankish kingdoms. The Carolingian dynasty, whose center of power comprised what is now eastern Belgium, came to control the Frankish empire in the eighth century. The Carolingian Empire was split up in many ways throughout the ages, but its limits remained influential for medieval political divisions when they were established by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, which split the empire into three kingdoms.
Though the coastal county of Flanders, west of the Scheldt, became the northernmost portion of West Francia, the forerunner of France, the majority of contemporary Belgium was in the Middle Kingdom, later known as Lotharingia. The areas of modern-day Belgium were temporarily included in the western kingdom in 870 with the Treaty of Meerssen. However, the eastern kingdom, which later became the Holy Roman Empire, gained permanent authority over Lotharingia in 880 with the Treaty of Ribemont.
Important ties were maintained between the lordships and bishoprics along the “March” (border) that divided the two major kingdoms. For instance, the county of Flanders grew across the Scheldt into the empire and was administered by the same lords as the county of Hainaut for a number of years.
The textile industry and commerce flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries, particularly in the County of Flanders, which rose to become one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The disputes between the king of France and the Flanders were influenced by this wealth. Known for their unexpected triumph over a formidable group of mounted knights at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, Flemish militias eventually relinquished control of the insurgent region to France.
The Netherlands’ Burgundian and Habsburg
After seizing control of Flanders in the fifteenth century, the French Duke of Burgundy went on to combine much of what is now the Benelux, or the so-called Burgundian Netherlands. The Burgundian Netherlands, the ancestor of the Austrian Netherlands, the ancestor of contemporary Belgium, was initially referred to as “Burgundy” and then “Flanders”. The region experienced political and economic stability as a result of the union, which theoretically stretched across two kingdoms, and thus increased wealth and cultural output.
Charles V, the Habsburg Emperor, was descended not just from the Burgundians but also from the Austrian, Castilian, and Aragonese royal houses. He was born in Belgium. He granted the Seventeen Provinces greater legitimacy as a permanent organization rather than merely a transient personal union with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549. Additionally, he strengthened the Netherlands’ hold on the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, which persisted as a sizable enclave with some degree of independence.
Austrian and Spanish Netherlands
The Spanish government’s attitude toward Protestantism, which was gaining traction in the Low Countries, set off the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648). Eventually, the rebellious northern United Provinces (known as the “Federated Netherlands” in Latin, Belgica Foederata) broke away from the southern Netherlands (known as the “Royal Netherlands,” Belgica Regia). The majority of contemporary Belgium was part of the southern region, which continued to be administered successively by the Austrian House of Habsburgs (Austrian Netherlands) and the Spanish (Spanish Netherlands).
Throughout the majority of the 17th and 18th centuries, this served as the scene of several other lengthy wars involving France, such as the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678), the Nine Years’ War (1688–1697), the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), and a portion of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748).
The French Revolution and the Netherlands Kingdom
After the campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1794, Austrian sovereignty in the Low Countries came to an end when the French First Republic acquired the territory, including areas that were never formally under the Habsburg administration, such as the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. Following Napoleon’s abdication, the Low Countries were reunited as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands during the First French Empire’s collapse in 1814.
Belgium on its own
The Belgian Revolution of 1830 resulted in the Southern Provinces’ reunification with the Netherlands as well as the creation of an autonomous, French-speaking, bourgeois, Catholic nation with a national congress and provisional government.
With a laicist constitution modeled after the Napoleonic code, Belgium has been a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy since Leopold I’s coronation on July 21, 1831, which is today observed as Belgium’s National Day.
Despite initial restrictions on the franchise, universal suffrage was introduced for women in 1949 and for men following the national strike of 1893 (with multiple voting until 1919).
The Belgian Labour Party emerged around the end of the 19th century, although the Catholic Party and the Liberal Party remained the two largest political parties of the era. The bourgeoisie and nobles traditionally spoke French as their official language, particularly following the overthrow of the Dutch monarchy. Dutch started to regain its position as France gradually lost its hegemony. The Dutch version of the Constitution was approved by the parliament in 1967, and this recognition was made official in 1898.
King Leopold II received private ownership of the Congo Free State during the Berlin Conference of 1885. Concern over Leopold II’s cruel and harsh treatment of the Congolese people began to spread internationally around 1900. Leopold II used the Congo as a major source of income from the production of rubber and ivory.
Leopold’s operatives massacred a large number of Congolese people for not meeting their production targets for rubber and ivory. This protest in 1908 prompted the Belgian state to take over the colony’s administration, which would now be known as the Belgian Congo. Congo’s population was assessed by a Belgian committee in 1919 to have decreased by half from 1879.
As part of the Schlieffen Plan to attack France, Germany invaded Belgium in August 1914, and a large portion of the action on the Western Front of World War I took place in the country’s western regions. Because of German extravagance, the first few months of the war were dubbed the Rape of Belgium.
During the war, Belgium took over the German territories of Ruanda-Urundi, which are now modern-day Rwanda and Burundi. The League of Nations assigned Belgium command over these colonies in 1924. A German-speaking minority was established when Belgium seized the Prussian regions of Eupen and Malmedy in 1925 during the First World War.
In May 1940, the Germans invaded Belgium once more, and during the occupation and Holocaust that followed, 40,690 Belgians were murdered, more than half of them being Jews. Belgium was liberated by the Allies between September 1944 and February 1945. King Leopold III was compelled to resign in 1951 in favor of his son, Prince Baudouin, as a result of a national strike following World War II, since many Belgians believed he had worked with Germany throughout the conflict.
During the Congo Crisis in 1960, the Belgian Congo became independent; two years later, Ruanda-Urundi also became independent. Along with the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Belgium created the Benelux group of countries and became a founding member of NATO.
Belgium was one of the original members of the European Economic Community (founded in 1957), the European Atomic Energy Community (founded in 1951), and the European Coal and Steel Community (founded in 1957). The European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the extraordinary committee sessions of the European Parliament are among the important institutions and administrations that Belgium now hosts for the European Union, which has evolved into the latter.
Belgium had a number of significant corruption scandals in the early 1990s, including those involving Marc Dutroux, Andre Cools, the Dioxin Affair, the Agusta Scandal, and the death of Karel van Noppen.
Geographical
Belgium is bordered by the Netherlands (450 km), France (620 km), Germany (162/167 km), and Luxembourg (148 km). 30,689 km³, including the ocean, make up its whole surface (11,849 sq mi). Its whole area was estimated to be 30,528 km2 (11,787 sq mi) prior to 2018.
However, a new computation technique was applied in 2018 when the nation’s statistics were measured. This calculation, which excluded the region from the coast to the low-water line, showed that the country’s surface area was 160 km2 (62 sq mi) bigger than previously believed. There are 30,494 square kilometers on its land alone. It is located between longitudes 2°33′ and 6°24′ E and latitudes 49°30′ and 51°30′ N.
The Anglo-Belgian Basin includes the coastal plain in the northwest, the middle plateau, and the southeast’s Ardennes uplands, which are part of the Hercynian orogenic band. Belgian Lorraine, the southernmost point of Belgium, is the little fourth area in which the Paris Basin extends.
Sand dunes and polders make up the majority of the coastal plain. A smooth, gradually rising terrain with several canals irrigating it may be found farther inland. It has verdant valleys and the northeastern sandy plain of the Campine (Kempen). The rough, rocky hills and plateaus of the Ardennes are covered in dense forests and feature tiny canyons and caverns. This region stretches into France to the west and joins the High Fens plateau in Germany to the east. The Signal de Botrange, at 694 meters (2,277 feet) above sea level, is the highest point in the nation.
Like most of northwest Europe, the climate is maritime temperate with heavy precipitation throughout the year (Köppen climatic classification: Cfb). January has the lowest average temperature (37.3 °C), while July has the highest average temperature (64.4 °F).
Between February and April, the average monthly precipitation is 54 mm (2.1 in), whereas in July, it is 78 mm (3.1 in). Monthly rainfall of 74 mm (2.9 in) daily minimum temperatures of 7 °C (44.6 °F) and maximum temperatures of 14 °C (57.2 °F) are recorded in averages for the years 2000 to 2006; they are almost 1 °C and over 10 mm above previous century’s typical levels, respectively.
Belgium is shared phytogeographically by the provinces of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom, which lie in Atlantic Europe and Central Europe. The Western European broadleaf forest and Atlantic mixed forest terrestrial ecoregions include Belgium’s area, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature. Belgium was ranked 163rd out of 172 nations in the world with a mean score of 1.36/10 on the 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index.
States
The Flemish Region and the Walloon Region, two of the three regions that make up Belgium’s territory, are further split into provinces; the Brussels Capital Region, the third region, is neither a province nor a component of a province.
Antwerp
EastFlanders
FlemishBrabant
Hainaut
Liège
Limburg
Luxembourg
Namur
Walloon Brabant
WestFlanders
Flanders
Wallonia
Brussels| Province | Dutch name | French name | German name | Capital | Area | Population (1 January 2024) |
Density | ISO 3166-2:BE |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flemish Region | ||||||||||
 Antwerp |
Antwerpen | Anvers | Antwerpen | Antwerp | 2,876 km2 (1,110 sq mi) | 1,926,522 | 670/km2 (1,700/sq mi) | VAN | ||
 East Flanders |
Oost-Vlaanderen | Flandre orientale | Ostflandern | Ghent | 3,007 km2 (1,161 sq mi) | 1,572,002 | 520/km2 (1,300/sq mi) | VOV | ||
 Flemish Brabant |
Vlaams-Brabant | Brabant flamand | Flämisch-Brabant | Leuven | 2,118 km2 (818 sq mi) | 1,196,773 | 570/km2 (1,500/sq mi) | VBR | ||
 Limburg |
Limburg | Limbourg | Limburg | Hasselt | 2,427 km2 (937 sq mi) | 900,098 | 370/km2 (960/sq mi) | VLI | ||
 West Flanders |
West-Vlaanderen | Flandre occidentale | Westflandern | Bruges | 3,197 km2 (1,234 sq mi) | 1,226,375 | 380/km2 (980/sq mi) | VWV | ||
| Walloon Region | ||||||||||
 Hainaut |
Henegouwen | Hainaut | Hennegau | Mons | 3,813 km2 (1,472 sq mi) | 1,360,074 | 360/km2 (930/sq mi) | WHT | ||
 Liège |
Luik | Liège | Lüttich | Liège | 3,857 km2 (1,489 sq mi) | 1,119,038 | 290/km2 (750/sq mi) | WLG | ||
 Luxembourg |
Luxemburg | Luxembourg | Luxemburg | Arlon | 4,459 km2 (1,722 sq mi) | 295,146 | 66/km2 (170/sq mi) | WLX | ||
 Namur |
Namen | Namur | Namur (Namür) | Namur | 3,675 km2 (1,419 sq mi) | 503,895 | 140/km2 (360/sq mi) | WNA | ||
 Walloon Brabant |
Waals-Brabant | Brabant wallon | Wallonisch-Brabant | Wavre | 1,097 km2 (424 sq mi) | 414,130 | 380/km2 (980/sq mi) | WBR | ||
| Brussels Capital Region | ||||||||||
| Brussels Capital Region |
Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest | Région de Bruxelles-Capitale | Region Brüssel-Hauptstadt | Brussels City | 162 km2 (63 sq mi) | 1,249,597 | 7,700/km2 (20,000/sq mi) | BBR | ||
| Total | België | Belgique | Belgien | Brussels City | 30,689 km2 (11,849 sq mi) | 11,763,650 | 383/km2 (990/sq mi) | |||
Finance
Belgium’s transportation network is interconnected with the rest of Europe, and its economy has become increasingly international. Its central location inside a heavily industrialized area contributed to its ranking as the fifteenth biggest trade country in the world in 2007. A highly productive labor force, a high GNP, and high exports per capita define the economy. The primary imports into Belgium include food items, medicines, machinery and equipment, chemicals, raw diamonds, raw minerals, and oil products. Foodstuffs, metals and metal products, finished diamonds, machinery and equipment, and chemicals are among its top exports.
The Belgian economy has a dual character, with a laggard Walloon economy and a booming Flemish sector that is primarily service-oriented. Belgium, one of the original members of the European Union, is a fervent advocate of an open economy and the expansion of EU institutions’ authority to integrate member economies. Belgium and Luxembourg have had a unified customs and currency union as well as a single trading market since 1922 thanks to the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union.
Early in the 19th century, Belgium became the first nation in continental Europe to experience the Industrial Revolution. Mining and steelmaking in the Sambre and Meuse valleys prospered until the mid-1900s, making Belgium one of the world’s three most industrialized nations between 1830 and 1910. This development occurred quickly in areas of Liège Province and the surrounding Charleroi area. But by the 1840s, Flanders’ textile sector was in serious trouble, and the area saw starvation from 1846 to 1850.
Following World War II, the chemical and petroleum industries in Ghent and Antwerp grew rapidly. The economy entered a recession in 1973 and 1979 as a result of the oil crisis; it lasted especially long in Wallonia, where the steel sector had significantly declined and had become less competitive. The country’s economic core continued to move north during the 1980s and 1990s, settling in the populated Flemish Diamond region.
The cumulative effect of Belgian macroeconomic policies at the end of the 1980s was a government debt equivalent to around 120% of GDP. In 2006, the state debt represented 90.30 percent of GDP, and the budget was balanced. Real GDP growth rates in 2005 and 2006 were 1.5% and 3.0%, respectively, somewhat higher than the Euro area average. 2005 and 2006 unemployment rates of 8.4% and 8.2%, respectively, were comparable to the local average. Compared to the average growth rate of 9.6% for the European Union as a whole (EU 27), this has increased to 8.5% by October 2010. The Belgian franc served as the country’s currency from 1832 until 2002.
The first sets of euro coins were struck in 1999, and Belgium moved to the euro in 2002. The monarch’s portrait is included on standard Belgian euro coins intended for circulation (initially King Albert II, since 2013 King Philippe).
Belgium maintained the greatest rail network density in the European Union in 1999 with 113.8 km/1 000 km2, despite an 18% reduction from 1970 to 1999. On the other hand, the highway network has grown significantly (+56%) throughout the same time, 1970-1999. Compared to the EU averages of 13.7 and 15.9, the 1999 highway density per 1000 km2 and 1000 persons was much higher at 55.1 and 16.5, respectively.
In terms of biological resources, Belgium is not well-endowed: Just 0.8 global hectares or roughly half of the 1.6 global hectares of biocapacity available per person globally, made up Belgium’s biocapacity in 2016. By comparison, Belgium’s ecological footprint of consumption in 2016 was 6.3 worldwide hectares on average for its population. This indicates that they needed around eight times Belgium’s biocapacity. Consequently, in 2016 Belgium had a biocapacity shortfall of 5.5 global hectares per person.
In Europe, Belgium has some of the worst traffic congestion. 2010 saw travelers to Antwerp and Brussels spend 65 and 64 hours a year stuck in traffic, respectively. Similar to the majority of tiny European nations, Brussels Airport handles more than 80% of all aviation traffic. More than 80% of all marine activity in Belgium passes via the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge (Bruges). Antwerp is the second-largest seaport in Europe, handling 115,888,000 t of gross weight of products in 2000, up 10.9% over the previous five years. After growing by 2.7% annually, the port of Antwerp handled 214 million tons in 2016.
The economic divide between Wallonia and Flanders is substantial. Due mostly to its heavy industries, Wallonia was traditionally wealthier than Flanders; but, after World War II, the region’s steel sector declined, causing Wallonia to rapidly drop while Flanders quickly grew.
Since then, Wallonia has been in decline while Flanders, one of the richest areas in Europe, has thrived. In 2007, Wallonia’s unemployment rate was more than twice as high as Flanders’. Beyond the linguistic barrier itself, the division has been a major factor in the conflicts between the Walloons and the Flemish. As a result, pro-independence movements have become quite popular in Flanders. For example, Belgium’s largest party is the separatist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA).
Technology and Science
Throughout the nation’s history, advancements in science and technology have been made. Among the most important scientists of the 16th-century Early Modern era in Western Europe were mathematician Simon Stevin, anatomist Andreas Vesalius, herbalist Rembert Dodoens, and navigator Gerardus Mercator.
The Solvay process and the Gramme dynamo were named after chemist Ernest Solvay and engineer Zenobe Gramme of the École Industrielle de Liège, respectively, in the 1860s. Leo Baekeland created Bakelite between 1907 and 1909. Along with being a significant philanthropist, Ernest Solvay is known for establishing the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, the International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry, and the Solvay Institute of Sociology—all of which are now a part of the Université libre de Bruxelles. The Solvay Conferences on Physics and Chemistry, which he founded in 1911, have had a significant influence on the development of quantum physics and chemistry.
Monsignor Georges Lemaître of the Catholic University of Louvain, a Belgian, made a significant contribution to fundamental science when he put out the Big Bang theory of the universe’s beginning in 1927.
Three Belgians were granted Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine: Albert Claude (Université libre de Bruxelles) and Christian de Duve (Université catholique de Louvain) in 1974; Jules Bordet (Université libre de Bruxelles) in 1919; and Corneille Heymans (University of Ghent) in 1938.
2013 saw François Englert (Université libre de Bruxelles) receive the Physics Nobel Prize. In 1977, Ilya Prigogine of Université libre de Bruxelles was granted the Chemistry Nobel Prize. The Fields Medal was given to two Belgian mathematicians: Pierre Deligne in 1978 and Jean Bourgain in 1994. In 2023, Belgium came in at number 23 on the Global Innovation Index.
Characteristics
According to its demographic record, Belgium had 11,763,650 people living there as of January 1, 2024. By January 2024, Belgium had the sixth-highest population density in Europe and the 22nd-highest population density worldwide, with a population density of 383/km2 (990/sq mi).
The province with the highest population density is Antwerp, whereas Luxembourg has the lowest density. As of January 2024, the Flemish Region (Flanders) has a population of 6,821,770 (58.0% of Belgium), its most populated cities being Antwerp (545,000), Ghent (270,000), and Bruges (120,000).
With 3,692,283 people living in the Walloon Region (Wallonia), or 31.4% of Belgium’s total population, its three most populated cities are Charleroi (204,000), Liège (196,000), and Namur (114,000). With 19 municipalities and 1,249,597 residents, the Brussels-Capital Region (Brussels) accounted for 10.6% of Belgium’s total population. The three most populated cities in the region were Brussels (197,000), Schaerbeek (130,000), and Anderlecht (127,000).
The total fertility rate (TFR) in Belgium was 1.64 children per woman on average in 2017, which is lower than the replacement rate of 2.1 and yet far lower than the peak of 4.87 children born per woman in 1873. With an average age of 41.6 years, Belgium’s population is among the oldest in the world.
Migration
Approximately 92% of the population was Belgian as of 2007, with the other 6% being residents of other EU member states. Italians (171,918), French (125,061), Dutch (116,970), Moroccans (80,579), Portuguese (43,509), Spanish (42,765), Turkish (39,419), and Germans (37,621) were the most common foreign nationalities. 1.38 million people in Belgium were foreign-born in 2007, making up about 12.9% of the country’s overall population. Of these, 695,000 (6.5%) were born in another EU Member State and 685,000 (6.4%) were born outside the EU.
It was predicted at the beginning of 2012 that 2.8 million new Belgians, or almost 25% of the overall population, were of foreign descent. Of these new Belgians, 1,350,000 are from non-Western nations (mostly Morocco, Turkey, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and 1,200,000 are of European descent.
More than 1.3 million immigrants have obtained Belgian citizenship since the nationality legislation was changed in Belgium in 1984. Italian and Moroccan immigrants and their descendants make up the largest immigrant and descendant populations in Belgium. 89.2% of residents of Turkish descent, 88.4% of Moroccan descent, 75.4% of Italian descent, 56.2% of French descent, and 47.8% of Dutch descent are naturalized citizens.
Statbel published population statistics in Belgium broken down by country of origin. The statistics show that as of January 1, 2021, 32.7% of Belgians were of foreign nationality or origin, with 20.3% of those belonging to a foreign ethnic group or nationality being from neighboring countries, while 67.3% of Belgians were of ethnic Belgian ancestry. According to the survey, 13.8% of the non-Belgian population residing in the Brussels Capital Region came from neighboring countries, making up 74.5% of the total population.
Verses
Dutch, French, and German are the three official languages of Belgium. There are also some non-official minority languages that are spoken. There are no official statistics on the distribution or usage of Belgium’s three official languages or their dialects because there has never been a census. However, a number of factors, such as the parent’s language(s), level of schooling, or whether or not a foreign-born person speaks a second language, may offer approximate values.
An estimated 40% of Belgians are natural French speakers, and 60% of the country’s population is thought to be native Dutch (also known as Flemish). Although those who speak French in Brussels are not Walloons, French-speaking Belgians are frequently referred to as such.
Estimates place the overall number of native Dutch speakers at 6.23 million, mostly in the northern Flanders area. In contrast, Wallonia is home to 3.32 million native French speakers, with an estimated 870,000 (or 85%) of them in the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital area. About 10,000 Germans and 60,000 Belgians make up the 73,000 members of the German-speaking Community in the eastern part of the Walloon Region. Further German speakers reside in towns close to the formal Community, numbering about 23,000.
There are slight variations in vocabulary and meaning subtleties between Belgian Dutch and Belgian French compared to the languages spoken in the Netherlands and France, respectively. There are still many Flemish individuals who speak local dialects of Dutch. Walloon, which is now mostly spoken and understood by the elderly, is thought to be either a unique Romance language or a dialect of French. There are four distinct dialects in Walloon, which, along with Picard’s, are seldom ever heard in public and have mostly been supplanted by French.
Faith
Belgium’s Constitution guarantees religious freedom, and the state really upholds this right. Three religions are legally recognized in Belgium: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism, Orthodox churches, and Anglicanism). Belgian royals were known for their fervent Catholicism under the administrations of Albert I and Baudouin.
The main religion in Belgium has historically been Catholicism, which is particularly prevalent in Flanders. Nonetheless, in 2009, the percentage of Belgians attending Sunday church was 5%; in Brussels, it was 3%, and in Flanders, it was 5.4%. In Belgium, the number of people attending church on Sundays in 2009 was around half that of the country as a whole in 1998 (11%). Even with the decline in church attendance, Catholic identity is still deeply ingrained in Belgian society.
As per the 2010 Eurobarometer, 37% of Belgians have a belief in God, while 31% believe in a spirit or life force. 27% reject all notions of a spirit, god, or life force. Five percent didn’t reply. Belgium has a 60.7% Christian population overall, with 52.9% of people identifying as Catholics, according to the 2015 Eurobarometer.
Protestants made up 2.1% of the population, while Orthodox Christians made up 1.6%. 32.0% of the population identified as nonreligious, of which 14.9% were atheists and 17.1% were agnostics. 2.1% of people practiced other religions, while 5.2% of people were Muslims. According to the same study conducted in 2012, 65% of Belgians identified as Christians, making them the country’s most common religion.
There were about 42,000 Jews in Belgium in the early 2000s. With a population of over 18,000, the Jewish Community of Antwerp is among the largest in Europe and one of the last in the world to have a sizable Jewish community where the predominant language is Yiddish, similar to several Orthodox and Hasidic communities in New York, New Jersey, and Israel. Furthermore, the majority of Antwerp’s Jewish children attend Jewish schools.
The nation is home to around 45 functioning synagogues (30 of which are in Antwerp), as well as a number of Jewish periodicals. According to a 2006 survey, 36% of respondents in Flanders—generally seen as a more religious region than Wallonia—thought that God was the universe’s creator, and 55% of them identified as religious.
However, Wallonia has emerged as one of the least religious and secularized areas in Europe. Up to 45% of people in the French-speaking region identify as irreligious, and the majority of people do not think that religion plays a significant role in their lives. This is especially true in parts of eastern Wallonia and the border region with France.
Based on estimates from 2008, there are 628,751 Muslims in Belgium or about 6% of the country’s total population. Muslims make up 5.1% of Flanders’ population, 4.9% of Wallonia’s, and 23.6% of Brussels’.
Most Muslims in Belgium reside in the country’s largest cities, including Charleroi, Brussels, and Antwerp. With 400,000 members, Moroccan immigrants make up the biggest immigrant community in Belgium. With 220,000, the Turks are the second-biggest Muslim ethnic group and the third-largest overall.
Well-being
Belgians are generally in good health. Based on figures from 2012, the average lifespan is 79.65 years. Life expectancy has increased by two months annually since 1960, in line with the average growth rate in Europe.
Heart and vascular diseases, tumors, respiratory system problems, and non-natural causes of death (accidents, suicide) account for the majority of deaths in Belgium. For girls up to age 24 and males up to age 44, the most prevalent causes of mortality are cancer and non-natural causes of death.
In Belgium, taxes and social security payments are used to pay for healthcare. It is required to have health insurance. A combination of public and private systems comprising public, university, and semi-private institutions as well as independent medical practitioners provides healthcare.
Health care services are paid for by the patient and then reimbursed by health insurance companies; however, third-party payment methods are available for individuals and services that are not eligible. The Flemish and Walloon regional governments, the federal government, and the German Community all have (indirect) control and financial responsibility for the Belgian healthcare system.
Following the two-year anniversary of the euthanasia age restrictions being removed, the first kid was put to death in Belgium’s history. The youngster had been afflicted with an incurable condition, leading to their euthanasia. The topic of assisted suicide raises the prospect of controversy even in cases when there may have been some support for euthanasia.
Belgium has one of the highest suicide rates in the industrialized world, second only to Lithuania, South Korea, and Latvia, excluding assisted suicide. It also has the highest suicide rate in Western Europe.
Instruction
For Belgians, education is required from the age of six to eighteen. At 42%, Belgium had the third-highest percentage of 18–21-year-olds enrolled in higher education among OECD nations in 2002. Even though 99% of adults are thought to be literate, functional illiteracy is a growing problem.
Belgium’s education is now ranked 19th in the world by the OECD-coordinated Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is far higher than the average for the OECD. Every community arranges education in a unique way. The German- and French-speaking communities are not quite as well-ranked as the Flemish Community.
Mirroring the framework of the 19th-century Belgian political scene, typified by the Liberal and the Catholic parties, the educational system is separated into secular and religious schools. Whereas religious, mostly Catholic, branch education is run by religious authorities under the supervision and financial support of the communities, the secular branch of education is managed by the communities, provinces, or municipalities.
Traditions
The area that would become modern-day Belgium saw the emergence of significant artistic movements despite its political and linguistic differences, which have had a significant impact on European art and culture. These days, a common cultural sphere is less prominent due to a number of barriers, and cultural activity is mostly confined inside each linguistic community. With the exception of the Antwerp Maritime Academy and the Royal Military Academy, there have not been any multilingual institutions or universities in the nation since the 1970s.
Fine arts
Particularly substantial contributions have been made to painting and architecture. Important examples of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture, as well as Early Netherlandish, Flemish Renaissance, and Baroque paintings[194] are among the art’s historical turning points.
The religious works of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden dominated Low Country art in the 15th century, but a wider range of styles, including landscape paintings by Peter Breughel and antique representations by Lambert Lombard, defined the 16th century. Despite a brief period of prosperity in the early 17th century in the Southern Netherlands, the Baroque style of artists such as Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck steadily waned after that.
Numerous innovative romantic, expressionist, and surrealist Belgian painters arose in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as James Ensor and other members of the Les XX group, Constant Permeke, Paul Delvaux, and René Magritte. The 1950s saw the emergence of the avant-garde CoBrA movement, and the sculptor Panamarenko is still regarded as a significant figure in modern art. Other well-known names in the world of contemporary art are the painter Luc Tuymans, the multidisciplinary artist Jan Fabre, and Wim Delvoye.
The 19th and 20th centuries saw more Belgian contributions to architecture, particularly the creations of Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde, who were key figures in the Art Nouveau movement.
The Franco-Flemish School of vocal music, which originated in the southern Low Countries, made a significant cultural contribution during the Renaissance. While Adolphe Sax developed the saxophone in 1846, notable violinists of the 19th and 20th centuries included Henri Vieuxtemps, Eugène Ysaÿe, and Arthur Grumiaux. Liège was the birthplace of composer César Franck in 1822.
Belgium’s modern popular music is very well-known. Global recognition has been attained by jazz musicians Django Reinhardt, Toots Thielemans, and vocalist Jacques Brel. With her current level of popularity, vocalist Stromae has become a musical sensation throughout Europe and beyond. Telex, Front 242, K’s Choice, Hooverphonic, Zap Mama, Soulwax, and dEUS are well-known names in the rock and pop genres.
Bands with a global fan base in the heavy metal genre include Machiavel, Channel Zero, and Enthroned.
Numerous well-known writers have come from Belgium, including the novelists Hendrik Conscience, Stijn Streuvels, Georges Simenon, Suzanne Lilar, Hugo Claus, and Amélie Nothomb, as well as the poets Emile Verhaeren, Guido Gezelle, and Robert Goffin. In 1911, the dramatist and poet Maurice Maeterlinck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The most well-known Franco-Belgian comic book is Hergé’s The Adventures of Tintin. However, a number of other notable writers, such as Peyo (The Smurfs), André Franquin (Gaston Lagaffe), Dupa (Cubitus), Morris (Lucky Luke), Greg (Achille Talon), Lambil (Les Tuniques Bleues), Edgar P. Jacobs, and Willy Vandersteen, made Belgian cartoon strip culture well-known throughout the world. In addition, well-known crime writer Agatha Christie developed the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who has been the main character in several of her critically praised mystery books.
Several novels, mostly Flemish, have been adapted for the screen by Belgian filmmakers. Successful films include Bullhead, Man Bites Dog, and The Alzheimer Affair; notable performers include Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jan Decleir, and Marie Gillain; and other Belgian filmmakers include André Delvaux, Stijn Coninx, Luc, and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. Successful fashion designers may also be found in Belgium.
Legends
Belgium’s cultural life revolves mostly around folklore; the nation has a plethora of processions, cavalcades, parades, ommegangs, ducasses, kermesses, and other local celebrations, almost all of which have their origins in religion or mythology. Just before Lent (the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter), Binche, near Mons, hosts its famed Gilles (guys dressed in vivid costumes and high, plumed hats) for a three-day carnival. It is included by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, alongside the “Processional Giants and Dragons” of Ath, Brussels, Dendermonde, Mechelen, and Mons.
Additional instances include the three-day Aalst Carnival in February or March; the observant and highly spiritual Holy Blood processions in Bruges in May; the Virga Jesse procession in Hasselt every seven years; the Hanswijk procession in Mechelen each year; the 15 August celebrations in Liège; and the Walloon festival in Namur. The Gentse Feesten, a music and theater festival held in Ghent on July 21, Belgian National Day, was first held in 1832 and was resurrected in the 1960s. It has now grown into a contemporary institution. Many of these events are classified as kermesses, and many of them feature athletic activities like cycling.
Saint Nicholas Day, also known as Sinterklaas in the Netherlands and la Saint-Nicolas in France, is a significant non-official holiday that is observed by children and students in Liège. It’s akin to an early Christmas and happens on December 6 every year.
Before going to bed on December 5th, the kids place their shoes by the fireplace along with some wine or water and a carrot for Saint Nicholas’ donkey or horse. It is customary for Saint Nicholas to arrive at night and down the chimney. After taking the food and wine or water, he leaves gifts, gets back up, feeds his donkey or horse, and resumes his journey. He is also aware of the good and negative deeds of youngsters.
In Belgium and the Netherlands, children particularly enjoy this holiday. The custom was brought to the US by Dutch immigrants, who gave Santa Claus the American name for Saint Nicholas.
Food
Famous foods of Belgium include chocolate, beer, waffles, and french fries. Fries and steak, as well as mussels and fries, are national meals. The most prestigious restaurant guides, including the Michelin Guide, feature several well-regarded Belgian eateries. The Trappist monks’ beer is one of several highly esteemed beverages. In essence, it is an ale, and customarily, the beer from each abbey is served in a unique glass with varying shapes, sizes, and widths. Only eleven breweries are authorized to manufacture Trappist beer, six of which are located in Belgium.
Despite the fact that Belgian cuisine is closely linked to French cuisine, some recipes are said to have originated there. These include the infamous French fries (whose exact origin is unknown), the Flemish Carbonade (a beef stew with beer, mustard, and bay laurel), speculaas (also known as speculoos in French, which are shortcrust biscuits with a cinnamon and ginger flavor), Brussels waffles (and their variant, Liège waffles), waterzooi (a broth made with chicken or fish, cream, and vegetables), endive with bechamel sauce, Brussels sprouts, and Belgian pralines (Belgium is home to some of the most well-known chocolate houses).
Famous brands of Belgian chocolate and pralines include Côte d’Or, Neuhaus, Leonidas, and Godiva. There are also independent makers like Mary’s in Brussels and Burie and Del Rey in Antwerp. More than 1100 types of beer are produced in Belgium. The Abbey of Westvleteren’s Trappist beer has been named the greatest beer in the world on several occasions.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, a Leuven-based company, is the largest brewer in the world by volume.
Athletics
Within each linguistic group, sports clubs and federations have been formed independently since the 1970s. In addition to overseeing three sporting facilities in the Brussels-Capital Region, the Administration de l’Éducation Physique et du Sport (ADEPS) is in charge of recognizing the numerous French-speaking sports federations. Its equivalent in Dutch is Sport Vlaanderen, which was once known as BLOSO.
In both Belgium and the Netherlands, association football is the most popular sport. Bicycling, tennis, swimming, judo, and basketball are all quite popular. Since attaining the top place in the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in November 2015, the Belgium national football team has been among the best.
The squad has been the best in the world for the longest period of time in history since the 1990s, behind only Brazil’s and Spain’s records. Silver medals at Euro 1980 and bronze medals at the World Cup 2018 were won by the team’s golden generations, which included world-class players like Jan Ceulemans, Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, and Jean-Marie Pfaff. Belgium co-hosted the Euro 2000 alongside the Netherlands and hosted the Euro 1972.
With the exception of France, Belgians are the nation with the most Tour de France victories. Additionally, they lead the standings in UCI Road World Championship triumphs. One of the best riders of all time is Belgian rider Eddy Merckx, who has won five Tour de France races and has many other cycling records. The world champions in 2012 and 2022 were Philippe Gilbert and Remco Evenepoel, respectively. Other well-known Belgian cyclists are Tom Boonen and Wout van Aert.
As the top-ranked female tennis players, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin shared the title of Women’s Tennis Association Player of the Year. The Formula One World Championship Belgian Grand Prix is held at the Spa-Francorchamps motor racing circuit. In addition to winning eight Grands Prix and six 24 Hours of Le Mans, Belgian driver Jacky Ickx was second twice in the Formula One World Championship. Along with riders like Joël Robert, Roger De Coster, Georges Jobé, Eric Geboers, and Stefan Everts, Belgium is also well-known for its motocross talent.
The Belgian Grand Prix Formula One, the Memorial Van Damme athletics tournament, and many legendary cycling races including the Tour of Flanders and Liège–Bastogne–Liège are among the sporting events that take place in Belgium each year. Antwerp hosted the Summer Olympics in 1920. Liège and Ostend hosted the 1977 European Basketball Championship.
