Belgium at a glance

Belgium at a glance

Everything you need to know about your next destination

Belgium in a nutshell

Kingdom of Belgium

Capital city
Brussels

Government &
Federation

Constitutional monarchy with parliamentary system

Official
languages

Dutch 60%, French 39% and German 1%

Surface
30.528 km2

11.491.346
inhabitants

60% Flanders and 40% Wallonia (2017)

Religion
Diversity

Roman Catholic 57%
6 other religions 15%
non-religious 28%

Currency
€ (Euro)

A country of regions

Belgium is a federal state made up of three Communities
(the Flemish, the French and the German speaking Community)
and three Regions (the Flemish, the Walloon and the Brussels Capital Region).

There is a federal government and a federal Parliament.
The Communities' powers relate to education, culture, health policy, etc. The Regions have powers over public works, agriculture, employment, the environment, etc.

Antwerp - Central station

Brussels - Atomium

Gent - Historical city centre

Brussels - Manneken Pis

Bruges - Evening scene

Brussels - European Commission

Antwerp - MAS museum

Brussels - Royal Palace

The Belgian Monarchy

Belgium is a constitutional monarchy.
King Philippe, the current monarch, is the seventh King of the Belgians.
The King has no political power although he often consults with government ministers. The King and Queen represent Belgium abroad (state visits, economic missions and international meetings).

Touristic places

The art cities of Gent, Brugge, Antwerpen and Brussels attract tourists for their historic buildings,
beguinages, architecture and museums. Especially the Art Nouveau by Horta, among others, is unique.
Typical attractions for tourists in Brussels are the Atomium - that is left over from
Expo 58 - and Manneke Pis. The coast attracts bathers for the beach, the sea and bike rides.
In Limburg, the first Flemish National Park was opened in 2006, as more and more tourists
discover cycling and walking. The Ardennes attract tourists for hikes, rock climbing
and descents of mountain streams with kayaks and cross-country skiing in winter.

Belgium, home of the creative

What is special about Belgian film-making is the way it portrays a panorama of society and images of humanity with striking realism, telling stories of real lives and real people. A new generation of film-makers and actors and actresses gain recognition, with some picking up awards in Cannes and Hollywood.

Cinema

Picture: The head smurf

As the unrivalled home of the comic strip, Belgium has the world's highest concentration of writers of such strips, following in the foot-steps of Hergé (Tintin), Peyo (The Smurfs), Edgar P. Jacobs (Blake and Mortimer), Morris (Lucky Luke) to name but a few.

Ninth Art

Picture: Tintin off to the moon

The magnificent works of the Old Flemish Masters, such as Pieter Paul Rubens, Pieter Bruegel, Jan Van Eyck and Anthony Van Dyck, and those of more recent artists, like Paul Delvaux and René Magritte, are to be found today in museums and art galleries all over the world.

Painting

Picture: Le retour by Magritte

Belgium is a land of jazz musicians and the native country of Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone. The international music scene is buzzing with names of talented Belgian artists and DJ's (Stromae, Netsky, Lost Frequencies and Oscar and the Wolf). Belgium also hosts the renown festivals Tomorrowland and Rock Werchter.

Music scene

Picture: Netsky in performance

Backed up by a long tradition of expertise and a tried-and-tested combination of creativity and a certain willingness to take a bit of a risk, Belgian designers' creations (Raf Simons, Martin Margiela, Dries Van Noten, …) have now become a regular feature on the top catwalks and at the most prestigious fashion shows.

Fashion

Picture: Belgian design on the catwalk

Hugo Claus, Georges Simenon (who created Commissaire Maigret) and Amélie Nothomb are just some of a long list of Belgian writers stretching from the 19th century down to the present day, with some Belgian novelists' works being translated into a wide range of languages.

Literature

Picture: Contemporary writer Hugo Claus

A country of sport legends

Cycling is one of the country's most favorite participation sports, and its popularity is demonstrated by classics like Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Another very popular sport is football. Many of the members of the men's Belgian national team 'Red Devils' like Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, … play at top clubs abroad.

Belgium is also at the top in hockey, judo, billiards, tennis and cyclocross.

Last but not least, Belgium is well known to fans of Formula 1 for its Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, generally considered to be the most attractive Formula 1 racetrack in the world.

Gastronomy

In foreign countries, the French fries are mainly misunderstood as it is a Belgian invention.

Belgian fries

Picture: A handfuls of Belgian fries with ketchup.

Regional dishes that have made it into international cuisine are Mechelen chicken or rabbit with plums, mussels, but also Gentse waterzooi, stew and eel in green. Belgian cuisine is a bourgeois variant of French cuisine.

Regional dishes

Picture: Mussels with Belgian fries.

Belgium has more than 365 different beers. Nowhere else in the world can you encounter so many local, authentic and colourful beers with such an enormous range of tastes and flavours. InBev, the largest brewery group in the world, is Belgian.

Famous beer

Picture: Jupiler beer brewed by Inbev.

Chocolate-making is one of the biggest businesses in the world, and as it happens, some of the most famous chocolatiers (Godiva, Neuhaus, ...) originate from Belgium. Belgium is known for its chocolate, especially pralines ("Belgian chocolates").

Belgian chocolates

Picture: Typical Belgian pralines.

Belgium is known for delicious waffles and chocolate, but Belgium has so much more to offer when it comes to sweet snacks. From speculoos to wrapped sugar confections to crispy cookies and soft pastries are some of the traditional delicacies to satisfy your sweet-tooth.

Traditional delicacies

Picture: One of many brands dedicated to traditional delicacies.

Belgians have also been a pioneer when it comes to making cheese. With over 300 varieties, Belgium is proud of its reputation as a cheese-making country.

Belgian cheese

Picture: Cheese plate with Belgian wine.

International hub for goods and
passengers transport

Belgium has an extensive road network of motorways and express roads.
The port of Antwerp is the second largest in Europe.
The port of Brugge-Zeebrugge and Gent are also important goods ports.
Zeebrugge is the most important Belgian fishing port.
There are civil airports at Brussels, Charleroi, Antwerp, Liège and Oostende.

In the heart of Europe

The European Union is part of Belgians' everyday life in many ways.
A number of European institutions, for instance the European Commission
(which has its headquarters in the Berlaymont Building) and the European Council
(housed in the Justus Lipsius Building), employing thousands of European civil servants,
are based in Brussels – which is therefore often called 'the capital of Europe'.

Belgium has always worked to widen and deepen European integration,
and Belgian politicians have played a crucial role in the development of the European Union.
All of this means that Europe is very close to Belgians' hearts.

Ukrainians and Russian speaking
people in Belgium

Ukraine
+ 5,000

Russian speaking
+ 25,000