Page last modified 19 August 2023

28) Belgium

Community

Area 30,528 square kilometres (land area 30,278 square kilometres)

Population,

3,785,711 (1831)

4,577,236 (1857)

5,520,009 (1880)

6,069,548 (1890)

6,693,548 (1900)

7,423,784 (1910)

7,465,782 (1920)

8,092,004 (1930)

8,294,674 (1940)

8,512,195 (1947)

9,167,000 (1960)

9,632,000 (1970) +5.1%

9,869,000 (1980) +2.5%

10,006,000 (1990) +1,4%

10,282,000 (2000) +2.8%

10,939,000 (2010) +6.4%

11,556,000 (2020) +5.6%

Ethnicity & Religion, %

	Belgian	Christian R C	Jewish	Muslim	No religion
1900		99.0	0.1	0.0	0.7
1930	96.1		0.8
1947			0.4
1970		92.8	0.4	0.9	4.8
1990	90.8	86.0
2006	87.1		0.3	3.5
2015		60.7		5.2	32.0

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1800							13.5
1850		30.5 (+6.1)		24.4			20.8
1880		31.1 (+8.8)	148.0	22.3
1900		29.0 (+9.7)		19.3	31.7		34.8
1910		23.7 (+8.5)		15.2
1920		22.1 (+8.3)		13.8
1930	2.3	18.7 (+5.4)		13.3			60.5
1940	2.2
1950	1.9		45.0		20.9	11.1	92.0
1960	1.8	16.5 (+4.1)	29.4	12.4	23.5	11.9	92.5
1970	1.9	14.7 (+2.4)	21.0	12.3	23.6	13.4	93.8
1980	1.7	13.0 (+1.5)	12.0	11.5	20.1	14.4	95.4
1990	1.6	12.0 (+1.6)	8.3	10.4	17.9	15.0	96.4
2000	1.7	11.2 (+1.0)	4.9	10.2	17.6	16.9	97.1
2010	1.8	11.9 (+2.2)	3.7	9.7	16.9	17.3	97.6
2015	1.7	10.9 (+1.1)	3.2	9.8	17.0	18.1	97.9
2017	1.7	10.5 (+0.9)	3.0	9.6	17.0
2018			2.9		17.1	18.8	98.0

Life expectancy,

40.0 (1800)

45.4 (1885); 43.8 (M), 46.9 (F)

60.8 (1935); 58.8 (M), 62.8 (F)

64.7 (1952); 62.0 (M), 67.3 (F)

69.7 (1960); 66.8 (M), 72.7 (F)

71.0 (1970); 67.9 (M), 74.3 (F)

73.2 (1980); 69.9 (M), 76.7 (F)

76.1 (1990); 72.7 (M), 79.5 (F)

77.7 (2000); 74.6 (M), 81.0 (F)

80.2 (2010); 77.5 (M), 83.0 (F)

81.7 (2020); 79.4 (M), 83.9 (F)

Population of principal cities A - G, 1,000s MA = Metropolitan Area

	Antwerp^1	MA	Bruges^2	BRUSSELS^3	MA	Charleroi	Ghent
1200			200
1400	20
1550	90
1585	80
1750				55
1790	40
1840	85		45	110
1850						6.5	110
1873	127
1890	233		47	176	471
1900	286		53	190	551	24	159
1945	256	780	53		912	28	161
1960	256		52	1,013			160
1968	234		53	1,100		124
1988	476		120	970		210
1998	450		116	960
2007	466		117			201	236
2009		961		1,031	1,892
2016	517		118	1,175	2,120	202	257

¹Antwerp, settled before 700 AD, prospered as the port of Bruges to the west silted up.� However, religious wars from the late 1500s onwards and the Dutch closure of the Scheldt estuary from 1648 to Belgian river traffic reduced the city�s wealth.� Antwerp regained the right to use the Scheldt estuary in 1863.

²Brugge was settled by the 7^th century AD and had become a major trading town by the 11^th century; it was a centre of lace and woollen manufacturing.� However political manoeuvring by France in Flanders, riots between factory owners and workers, a decline in English wool exports, also the shift of trade to Antwerp as Brugge�s outlet to the sea silted up all led to a major decline in the town�s fortunes.� The construction of the port of Zeebrugge in 1895, with a canal to Brugge, revived the town�s fortunes.

³Brussels was founded in 580 AD on a marshy island in the River Senne. Its name derives from the Flemish words brock (marsh) and sali (building). Brussels was the capital of the Spanish Netherlands from 1530, and was chosen as the capital of Belgium in 1830.� In 1957 Brussels became the administrative capital of the European Union (EU).� The city also hosts the headquarters of NATO.

Population of principal cities L - O, 1,000s

	Liege	Namur	Ostende^1
1860	96		16
1875	115	26	17
1890	156	32	23
1900	165	31	39
1930	165		47
1945	151	31	47
1966	153	33	58
1986	202	103	69
1996	193	104	69
2001	185	105
2007	189	108	69
2016	197	111	71

¹Ostende was a small fishing village in the 10^th century; a break in the sand dunes created a natural harbour that, by 1456, had been considerably improved.��

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values)

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1948*	5,690	2.55	646	42.36
1955	8,000	2.23
1960	11,658	2.15	1,237	41.14
1965	13,302	1.79	1,835	47.94
1970	26,090	2.51	2,650	50.51
1975	63,900	3.91	6,450	82.48
1980	119,640	4.28	12,297	97.61
1985	82,590	1.96	8,430	46.14
1990	197,350	3.40	19,971	83.37
1995	275,200	3.72	27,805	92.47
2000	226,600	2.27	23,707	65.04
2005	364,700	2.79	36,967	83.43
2010	461,300	3.08	44,380	91.74
2015	455,000	2.52	40,357	71.80
2016	466,600	2.51	41,096	71.51

*Includes Luxembourg

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1900	20.0
1930		16.8
1950	12.0	11.0
1960		8.0		48.0		44.0
1970	6.0	4.0
1980	2.0	3.0		41.0		56.0
1990	1.8	2.9	31.4	30.9	66.7	66.5
2000	1.3	2.0	26.9	25.0	71.8	73.0
2010	0.7	2.0	21.6	25.0	77.7	73.0
2013		1.3		18.6		80.1
2016	0.7		22.3		77.0

Communications

Language, Official; Dutch and French

% language	Dutch	Dutch + French	French	German
1890	45.0	11.0	41.0
1930	42.9	12.9	37.6	0.9
1947	51.4	15.7	33.0	1.0
1970	58.5		33.6	11.0
1990	48.0	10.0	42.0
2010	60.0 MT		40.0 MT

Literacy

86.5% (1890)

88.0% (1900)

94.4% (1950)

98.0% (1974)

99.9% (2000)

Physical communications � roads

	Roads (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles
1944		53,823
1946		221,788	124,623	110,723
1951			294,797
1955		575,000	439,623	135,404
1960	93,000	1,032,340	633,349	155,915
1961				181,000
1962			931,400
1970		2,161,475	1,813,099	201,341
1977	114,881		2,871,300	242,300
1980		3,765,700	3,206,472	255,765
1990	130,500	4,942,994	3,750,000	330,000
2000	145,850	5,542,964	4,650,000	526,344
2007		5,718,000	5,006,300	696,700
2010	154,547	6,040,000	5,276,000
2013		6,241,000	5,505,000
2015			5,662,000

Railways; length, kilometres. First railway in Belgium opened 1835; 22 kilometres, Brussels to Malines.

332 (1840)

844 (1850)

1,691 (1860)

3,091 (1870)

4,033 (1880)

4,444 (1890)

4,550 (1900)

4,653 (1910)

4,904 (1920)

5,083 (1930)

4,912 (1940) (0.9% e)

5,044 (1950)

4,896 (1955) (9.6% e)

4,815 (1960) (18.0% e)

4,282 (1968)

3,998 (1978)

3,568 (1988) (61.7% e)

3,422 (1998) (73.3% e)

3,696 (2005) (84.1% e)

3,592 (2014) (82.4%e)

Urban metro systems, Length, km.

Antwerp tramway,

57 (2005)

117 (2015)

Brussels metro (1^st section opened 1969, as an underground tramway),

tramway, 141� (2017)

Ghent tramway, 30 (2005)

Electronic communications, �TV broadcasts began 1953

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users
1938	287,323
1939	314,472		1,002,045
1950			1,548,000
1951	687,012		1.548,205
1959	1,068,731
1960			2,644,000
1961	1,205,132
1963			2,847,494	1,121,921
1968	1,823,953
1977			4,077,000	2,811.000
1980	2,441,993		4,508,494	2,934,054
1985		3,534
1988					500,000
1990	3,912.629	42,900	7,660,000	4,450,000	876,000
1995		235,000	8,000,000	4,600,000	1,800,000
1998						558,000
2000	5,036,422	5,630,000	8,100,000	5,500,000	2,300,000	2,000,000
2005		9,460,000		6,000,000	4,000,000	4,800,000
2010	4,640,000	12,425,000				8,480,000
2016	4,371,055	12,458,000				9,871,000
2017						10,061,000

Tourism: Visitors to Belgium,

2,516,000 (1987)

5,560,000 (1995)

6,457,000 (2000)

6,747,000 (2005)

7,186,000 (2010)

8,355,000 (2015)