Geography
Area : 30,528 km²
Borders : 1,385 km; France: 620 km, Germany: 167 km, Luxembourg: 148 km, Netherlands: 450 km
Coastline : 66.5 km
Capital : Brussels
Official language : Dutch, French, German
Flag
Population
Population : 11,697,557 inhabitants (January 2023)
Crude natural change rate : 0.6‰ (2023 est.)
Population repartition: aged under 15 years: 17%(2023 est.), aged over 65%: 19.9% (2023 est.)
Foreign residents: 7.9% EU nationals, 4.4% non-EU nationals (2019)
Crude net migration rate: 4.2‰ (2023 est.)
First time asylum applicants: 36 740 (2022)
Life expectancy: men 79.5 years, women 84.8 years (2023 est.)
Religions: Roman Catholic 57.1%, Protestant 2.3%, other Christian, 2.8%, Muslim 6.8%, other 1.7%, atheist 9.1%, nonbeliever/agnostic 20.2% (2018 est.)
Source : Eurostat, The CIA World Factbook
Economy
Currency: Euro
GDP: 549,456.2 million € (2022)
GDP per capita (PPS): 36,860 € (2022)
GDP growth : 0.2% (Q2 2023)
Inflation: 4.9% (May 2024)
Public debt: 106% of GDP (2023)
Unemployment: 5.9% (May 2024)
Public deficit: -2.9% of GDP (2022)
Stock of foreign direct investment from the entire world: 155% of GDP (2022)
Source : Eurostat, Trading Economics
Political system
Constitutional monarchy, democracy
Head of State: King Philippe, since 21st July 2013.
Prime Minister: Alexander de Croo (Open VLD) was appointed Prime Minister by the King on September 30th 2020. The New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) emerged victorious from the parliamentary elections of June 9th 2024. King Phillipe has appointed Bart De Wever (N-VA) to form a new government.
Bicameral legislative power: The House of Representatives comprises 150 members, elected for a period of 4 years The Senate comprises 60 members, also elected for 5 years, 50 of whom are elected by direct universal suffrage and 10 are co-opted
Political representation
Composition of the House of Representatives (following the June 9th 2024 elections):
- 24 seats N-VA (New Flemish Alliance)
- 16 seats PS (Socialist Party)
- 20 seat Vlaams Belang (Flemish far-right party)
- 20 seats MR (Reformist Movement)
- 11 seats CD&V (Flemish Christian- Democratic Party)
- 15 seats PTB-PVDA (Labour Party)
- 7 seats Open VLD ( Flemish Liberals and Democrats)
- 13 seats Vooruit (Flemish socialist Party)
- 9 Ecolo-GROEN (Greens)
- 14 seats Les Engagés (Humanist democratic centre)
- 1 seats DéFI (independant federalist democrat)
Composition of the Senate (in April 2021):
- 9 seats N-VA (New Flemish Alliance)
- 9 seats Ecolo-Groen
- 7 seats PS (Socialist Party)
- 7 seats Vlaams Belang
- 7 seats MR (Reformist Movement)
- 5 seats CD&V (flemish Christian- Democratic Party)
- 5 seats Open VLD (Liberal and Democrats)
- 5 seats PTB + PVDA (Labour)
- 4 seats Vooruit (Flemish socialist party)
- 2 seats Les Engagés (Humanist democratic centre)
Women's representations
- -in the government: 8/15
- -in the House of Representatives: 53/150
- -in the Senate: 27/60
Next Elections:
On The Same Theme
Country Sheet
Country Sheet
Country Sheet
Country Sheet
Country Sheet
Country Sheet
Country Sheet
Country Sheet
