Belgium is a low lying country on the North Sea coast in Western Europe. With the majority of West European capitals within 1,000 km of Brussels, the seat of both the European Union and NATO, and a member of the long-standing international Benelux community, Belgium sits at the crossroads of Western Europe. Its immediate neighbours are France to the southwest, Luxembourg to the south east, Germany to the east and the Netherlands to the north.
Regions
Belgium consists of three regions, listed from North to South:
Cities
These are the major cities in Belgium.
Other destinations
Understand
Belgium is a densely populated country trying to balance the conflicting demands of urbanization, transportation, industry, commercial and intensive agriculture. It imports large quantities of raw materials and exports a large volume of manufactured goods, mostly to the EU.
Climate
Temperate; mild winters, cool summers; rainy, humid, cloudy.
Terrain
Flat coastal plains in northwest, central rolling hills, wooded hills and valleys of Ardennes Forest in southeast.
History
Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830. It was occupied by Germany during World Wars I and II and has many war graves near the battle zones, most of them are around Ieper (in English archaically rendered as Ypres, with Yperite another name for mustard gas due to intensive use there in WWI). It has prospered in the past half century as a modern, technologically advanced European state and member of NATO and the EU. Tensions between the Dutch-speaking Flemings of the north and the French-speaking Walloons of the south have led in recent years to constitutional amendments granting these regions formal recognition and autonomy.
Electricity
Electricity is supplied at 220 to 230V 50Hz. Outlets are the European standard CEE-7/7 "Schukostecker" or "Schuko" or the compatible, but non-grounded, CEE-7/16 "Europlug" types. Generally speaking, British, U.S. and Canadian travelers should pack an adapter for these outlets if they plan to use their electrical equipment in Belgium.
Get in
By plane
Brussels Airport (also known as Zaventem due to the town in which it is mainly located) is Belgium's main airport, IATA code BRU. It is not located in Brussels proper, but in surrounding Flanders. The airport is the base of the national airline Brussels Airlines, which was founded when SN Brussels Airlines and its low budget sister company Virgin Express merged in March 2007. All other full-service airlines use BRU, as well as budget carriers such as Vueling and SkyEurope.
There is a train (2.80 €) running every 15 minutes to Brussels centre taking 25 minutes, some of them continuing to Ghent and West-Flanders and a bus line number 12 and 11 (3 €) every 20 to 30 minutes to Place Luxembourg (European Parliament) district. The bus stops at NATO and Schuman (for the EU institutions) on its way to the centre. There are also two trains per hour to Leuven, taking 13 minutes.
A taxi to the centre of Brussels costs around 20 € (as of 2004) when booked in advance, otherwise around 30 €. Taxis bleus: 02 268 0000, Taxi Brussels: 02 411 4142, Taxis verts: 02 349 4343.
There are two other airports in Belgium with scheduled flights. Ryanair and Wizzair fly to Charleroi airport (aka "Brussels South", IATA code CRL), about 60km away from Brussels. You can get to Brussels Gare du Midi on the Ryanair coach in about an hour (€10.50 each way). If you're going to any other part of Belgium, ask at the Ryanair ticket desk for a combination bus+train ticket via Charleroi Sud station (€10 each way if bought in the airport, but more expensive in stations).
However, if you are really stuck, it is not unusual for taxi drivers to take credit cards. The price of a taxi ride to Brussels is a set fare (approximately 95 Euros as of May 2006) and you can check with the taxi driver if he will accept your credit card(s) or not.
Antwerp Deurne airport (IATA code ANR) has some business flights, including VLM's reasonably priced link to London City airport. Other airports include Oostende, Liège and Kortrijk, but they only handle freight and charter flights.
Flights to airports in neighbouring countries, might be worth considering, especially to Amsterdam Schiphol which has a direct rail link to Brussels and Antwerp. Budget airline route information available from Low Cost Airline Guide and WhichBudget will give you all the budget airline routes and booking links.
By train
There are direct trains between Brussels and:
They connect with domestic trains at Brussels' Gare du Midi/Zuidstation, and with all Eurostar or ICE and some Thalys tickets, you can finish your journey for free on domestic trains. For all high-speed and sleeper trains, you need to book in advance for cheap fares, either online or using a travel agency.
You might want to check the TGV connections to Lille too. The trains from the rest of France to Lille are more frequent and usually cheaper. There is a direct train connection from Lille Flandres to Ghent and Antwerp. If your TGV arrives in Lille Europe, it will take a 15 min walk to the Lille Flandres railway station.
Plan your trip with the Deutsche Bahn timetable. It has all domestic and international connections across Europe.
By car
Major European highways like the E-19, E-17, E-40, E-411 and E-313 pass through Belgium.
By bus
You can get to Belgium from all over Europe on Eurolines coaches. International busses have stopovers in Antwerpen, Brussels north-station, Leuven & Liege.
By ship
There are overnight ferries to/from Zeebrugge from Hull in England and Rosyth in Scotland, but they are not cheap. There's also a vehicle-only daytime service from Oostende to Ramsgate in England.
Get around
Being such a small country (300 km as its maximum distance), you can get anywhere in a couple of hours.
Public transport is fast and comfortable, and not too expensive. Between larger cities, there are frequent train connections, with buses covering smaller distances. A useful site is InfoTEC, which has a door-to-door routeplanner for the whole country, covering all forms of public transport (including train, bus, subway and tram).
A look on the map may suggest that Brussels is a good starting point to explore Antwerp, Gent, Brugge and Leuven on day trips. However, each of these four cities are cheaper, safer, cleaner and especially, infinitely more interesting (and welcoming) to tourists. It may be a better idea to spend your nights in Brugge, Gent, Leuven and Antwerp, visiting Brussels on a day trip, than the other way around. Most tourists looking for authentic medieval neighbourhoods make Brugge their base, while those who want a lively student athmosphere go to Leuven (except in summer). Antwerp is popular among those who want to be in a cosmopolitan place, and Gent is tops with those who like a tad more provincialism. Liège is beautiful, but too close to Germany to be a good base for day trips. Mechelen is considered boring by tourists, but has a very good brand new youth hostel next to a train station with trains to everywhere else every 30 mins.
To do some local sightseeing, especially in Flanders, a lot of infrastructure is prepared for bikes. Bikes can also be rented virtually everywhere. In the country side of Wallonia, mountainbikes are available, and rafting is popular along the border with Luxembourg.
By train
Most of Belgium is well connected by train, run by NMBS (SNCB in French) with most of the main routes passing through Antwerp, Namur or Brussels. This is where you'll arrive on international trains, and both can be reached by train from Brussels airport or by coach from Antwerp or Charleroi airport. Transfers are very easy. Note that all Eurostar & ICE and some Thalys tickets allow free same-day transfers by domestic trains to any other Belgian station. Also, there are Thalys trains from Paris directly to Gent, Brugge and Oostende with no need to switch trains in Antwerp or Brussels. From London (by Eurostar) you need to switch in Brussels for Antwerp, Leuven or Gent, but for Brugge, you can already switch in Lille (France) with no need to make the detour via Brussels. Both in Lille and Brussels the staff are very very helpful, though never willing to smile.
The lines are very punctual and most of the trains are quite modern and comfortable.
Normal fares on Belgian trains are cheap compared to Germany or the UK, with no need nor a possibility to prebook or reserve. 2nd class fares don't go much higher than €20 for the longest domestic trips, and 1st class always costs 50% extra. Trains can get very full during the rush hours, so you might need a 1st class ticket to get a seat at those times. You can buy normal tickets online or in stations, but not usually in travel agencies. If you want to buy a ticket on the train, you have to warn the train conductor and a supplement may be charged. In the train station, you can pay with cash money or credit card.
Normal tickets are sold for a designated day, so there is no extra validation when you step on a train.
The cheapest option if you're planning several train trips is a Go Pass, which gives you 10 single 2nd class trips (including train changes if necessary) for €45. It's valid for a year and can be shared with or given to other people without any restrictions. The only problem is you have to be younger than 26, but there's a more expensive version for older people called a Rail Pass. This costs €68 for 2nd class or €104 for 1st.
When using these passes make sure you have filled in the line before you get on the train. The train conductor can be very picky when the pass is not correctly filled in. However, if you address train station staff before boarding, they will be glad to help you.
The NMBS website has a searchable timetable with delay information, and a fare calculator. A map of Belgian railroads and stations and another one more detailed but not printable.
Please note that train schedules usually change around December 10. Those changes are usually limited to introducing a few new train stations and adding a few regular lines. No lines have been discontinued in a very long time.
By bus/tram
Buses cover the whole country, along with trams and metro in the big cities. Most routes cover short distances, but it's possible to go from city to city by bus. However, this is much slower and only slightly cheaper than taking a train. There's also the Kusttram, running along almost the whole Flemish seaside from France to the Netherlands - definitely worth a trip in summer!
Within cities, a normal ticket for one zone never costs more than €1.50, and there are various travelcards available. Note that local transport is provided by different companies - MIVB in Brussels, De Lijn in Flanders and TEC in Wallonia, and outside Brussels they don't accept each others' tickets.
Most tourists will not need the bus companies, as it is much more user-friendly to take trains between cities and go on foot inside them. Only Brussels and Antwerp have a subway, but even there you can make your way around on foot. The historic center of Brussels is only about 300 by 400 metres big. Antwerp's is much bigger, but there a ride on a horse-pulled coach gives a better view than the subway.
By car
Belgium has a dense network of modern toll-free motorways, but some secondary roads are in poor condition. Signs are always in the local language only, except in Brussels, where they're bilingual. As many cities in Belgium have quite different names in Dutch and French, this can cause confusion. For example, Mons in French is Bergen in Dutch; Antwerp is called Antwerpen in Dutch and Anvers in French; Liège in French is Luik in Dutch and Lüttich in German, and so on. This even applies to cities outside Belgium; driving along a Flemish motorway, you may see signs for Rijsel, which is the French city of Lille or Aken, which is the German city of Aachen.
Drivers in Belgium should also be aware of the "priority from the right" rule. At road crossings, traffic coming from the right has the right of way unless otherwise indicated by signs or pavement markings. You're most likely to encounter such crossings in urban and suburban areas. Observant visitors will notice a lot of cars with dents along their right sides! Drive defensively and your car will avoid the same fate.
In Belgium the motorway signs are notoriously inconvenient, especially on secondary roads. There is no uniformity in layout and color, many are in bad state, placed in an awkward position or simply missing. A good roadmap (Michelin, De Rouck, Falk) or a GPS system is recommended.
By thumb
The best place for hitchhikers. Just ask for a lift! Having cardboard signs with towns' names on it can really help to get a quick lift.
Next to it you have a huge 'park and ride' and a bus stop. Hitchhiking near the bus stop should get you a ride in less than 5 minutes during traffic hours.
You can reach this place with the bus N°87.
An alternative spot to go to the north is in Anderlecht, near the Hospital Erasme (Underground station Erasme.)
Do
Talk
Belgium has three official languages: Dutch (also known as Flemish, but it's the same language), French and German. However, English is widely spoken by people under 30 in both Flanders and Wallonia. Speaking foreign languages is more common in Flanders, especially English and German, since Wallonia is more rural. You will find that some older people do speak English but it is less likely.
Please note that although Belgium has three official languages, that does not mean that all of them are official everywhere. The only official language of Flanders is Dutch; Brussels has both Dutch and French as its official languages. The only official language of Wallonia is French, except for the eastern cantons (including the town of Eupen and its surroundings) where the official language is German.
Buy
Eat
Belgium is famous for its good cuisine and Belgians like to go to restaurant frequently. However as a small country in the centre of western Europe, the cuisine is influenced not only by the surrounding countries, but also by many others. This is also emphasized by many foreigners coming to this country to make a living here, for instance by starting a restaurant. goodresto.be will help you find almost any restaurant in Belgium, comments and appreciations must not be taken literally. You can find all types of restaurants:
General rules:
Specialities
A number of dishes are considered distinctly Belgian specialities and should be on every visitor's agenda.
Mussels are a firm favorite and a snack of mosselen met friet (mussels and fries) are to Belgium what fish and chips are to England. The traditional way is to cook them in a pot with white wine, then eat them up using only a mussel shell to scoop them out. The top season is September to April, and as with all shellfish it's best not to eat the closed ones. Belgium's mussels always come from nearby Holland. Imports from other countries are looked down at.
Despite the name, French fries (friet in Dutch, frites in French) are proudly claimed as a Belgian invention. Whether or not this is true, they certainly have perfected it — although not everybody agrees with their choice of mayonnaise over ketchup as the preferred condiment.
Waffles (wafels in Dutch, gaufres in French) come in two types: a light and airy variety that Americans are more familiar with, or a heavier variety with a gooey center known as Luikse wafels. They can be found at stands on the streets of the cities.
Last but not least, Belgian chocolate is famed around the world. Famous chocolatiers include Godiva, Leonidas, Guylian and Neuhaus, but arguably the best stuff can be found at tiny boutiques in the Flemish cities, too small to build worldwide brands.
Drink
Beer
Imagine you've only been drinking red and yellow lemonade with a bit of alcohol thrown in all your life, and then suddenly you are introduced to the best varieties of wine available. This is what it can be like for people from countries like the US or other ones which mostly have industrial production blond lagers on offer, who then come to Belgium and are introduced to what is arguably the richest beer culture on the planet.
Like other European countries in medieval times, beers were brewed in a huge variety of ways with many different ingredients, apart from the standard water, malted barley, hops and yeast many herbs and spices were used. This activity was often done by monasteries, each developing its particular sort. For some reason uniquely in Belgium many of these monasteries survived almost into modern times, and the process was handed over to a local commercial brewer if the monastery closed. These brewers would often augment the recipe and process slightly to soften the taste to make it more marketable but the variety survived in this way. These beers are called Abbey beers and there are hundreds and hundreds with a range of complex tastes unimaginable until you've tried them.
Less than 10 of the original monasteries still make beer, this according to traditional methods going back to the Middle Ages. These monasteries make Trappist ales and in order to carry this badge of honour the monastery has to abide to strict rules regarding only using the best natural ingredients and only traditional, non-mechanised brewing processes. These amazingly rich and complex beers are truly artisanal products in that sense, and can confidently be considered the best in the world.
Belgium offers an incredible diversity of beers. The most well known mass-produced ones are Stella Artois, Duvel (literally: the Devil, beware, 8.5%!), Leffe, Jupiler (plain standard beer), Hoegaarden (white beer). The names given to some beers are pretty imaginative: eg Verboden Vrucht (Forbidden Fruit), Judas, Delirium Tremens. Warmly recommended are also Kriek (sweet or sour cherry beer) and, for the christmas season, Stille Nacht (Silent night).
Sleep
Belgium has many fine hotels, but the best are located in Antwerp, Brugge, Gent, Leuven and the rural Ardennes region of Belgium. Gent and Leuven are bustling college towns, Brugge is touristic yet still very authentic, medieval and quiet at night, with small guest houses and family businesses greatly outnumbering the few chain hotels. Antwerp caters both to businessmen and tourists. This influences the atmosphere in hotels. Brussels hotels receive mostly diplomats, eurocrats and conference-goers, which makes Brussels more expensive, both in terms of hotels and restaurants, and (especially) souvenir shops. For best value in everything, head to Brugge.Some Bandb's
Learn
Education in Belgium is compulsory between the ages of 30 months (perhaps unique in the world) and 18 years. Private home education is possible, though very rarely applied.
The different stages of education are the same in all communities:
Education is organized by the regions (Dutch-speaking Flanders on the one hand, French and German speaking Wallonia on the other) and the small federal district of Brussels has schools run by both the Flemish and Walloon authorities. Both states recognize independent school networks, which cater to far more students than the state schools themselves. Most Belgian students go to a Flemish catholic school. However, every independent school needs to follow the official state curriculum, and catholicism in Flanders has long been extremely liberal anyway.
Economy
Having one of the highest labour taxes in Europe, Belgium is struggling to reposition itself as a high-tech country. In that struggle, Flanders is quite ahead of Wallonia, in contrast to the previous decades, where Wallonia's steel industry was the main export of Belgium.
Highly skilled people will have the most chance to find work, and knowing multiple languages (Dutch, French, English and perhaps German) is almost a standard requirement. Interim offices providing temporary jobs are flourishing in a search to avoid the high labour taxes.
The upside of the high taxes is that Belgium has a very good social security system, with compulsory health insurance, unemployment wages and pension for all citizens. Unemployment rates fluctuate around 9% in Dutch-speaking Flanders, and around 18% in Wallonia. In Brussels, the main cause of unemployment tends to be a lack of Dutch: most inhabitants are immigrants from French-speaking countries. Among inhabitants of Brussels who can speak (fairly good) Dutch, unemployment is close to 0%. Among those who speak only French, it is estimated at around 25%, and most get only part-time jobs. Immigrants who know neither Dutch nor French may consider moving to one side or the other: long-term unemployment hits the overall majority of them. Their cause is not helped by the fact that Dutch and French are spoken in less households in the city than Arabic, Turkish and various native African languages. One newspaper pundit recently claimed the one language that most people in Brussels communicate in to be "broken English".
Stay safe
Except for certain neighbourhoods in central Brussels and the outer edge of Antwerp (the port and docks), Belgium is a safe country. Belgians are somewhat shy and introvert, but generally helpful towards strangers in general.
Also be aware of a mild form of resentment towards Muslims and North African ethnicities, especially in Brussels and Antwerp. For black people and muslims it is always best to introduce yourself as a tourist: other foreigners are expected to integrate and learn the local language, but tourists can always be forgiven for being a little ignorant of local culture.
Always use your common sense, of course. Don't walk in empty streets in the middle of the night, showing off your expensive equipment or jewelry.
Stay healthy
In the winter, like most other European countries, only influenza will cause you a considerable inconvenience. No inoculations are needed to enter or leave Belgium.
Respect
The Belgian attitude towards life is one of humility, and being proud of what's given to you. A real Belgian patriot is very hard to find. The country shares virtually all its history with the Netherlands, of which it seceded only in 1831, and also with France which ruled its southernmost regions until Napoleonic times.
A few sensitive points:
Contact
Belgium has a modern telephone system with nationwide cellular telephone coverage, and multiple internet access points in all cities, free in most libraries. Also in multiple gas stations, NMBS/SNCB train stations and diners on the highways there is wireless internet access available.
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The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and France, with a short coastline on the North Sea. It is one of the founding members of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO. Belgium has a population of over ten-and-a-half million people, in an area of around 30,000 square kilometres (11,700 square miles).
Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium's two largest regions are Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north, with 58% of the population, and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia, inhabited by 32%. The Brussels-Capital Region is an officially bilingual enclave within the Flemish and near the Walloon Region, and has 10% of the population. A small German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government.
The name 'Belgium' is derived from the Latin one for the northernmost part of Gaul, Gallia Belgica, named after a group of mostly Celtic tribes, the Belgae. Historically, Belgium had been a part of the Low Countries, which included the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and used to cover a somewhat larger area than the current Benelux group of states. From the end of the Middle Ages until the seventeenth century, it was a prosperous centre of commerce and culture. From the sixteenth century until the Belgian revolution in 1830, many battles between European powers were fought in the area of Belgium, which was dubbed "the battlefield of Europe" and "the cockpit of Europe" — a reputation strenghtened by both World Wars. Upon its independence Belgium, eagerly participated in the Industrial Revolution, bringing wealth that further increased during the era of its African colonies.
History
The area of present-day Belgium has seen significant demographic, political and cultural upheavals over the course of millenia. In the first century BC, the Romans, after defeating the indigenous Celtic tribes, created the province of Gallia Belgica. Following fifth century attacks by Germanic tribes, the area came under the rule of the Franks' Merovingian kingdom, and eventually the Carolingian Empire in the eighth century. During the Middle Ages many small feudal states emerged. With the exception Prince-Bishopric of Liège, these united within in the Burgundian Netherlands in the fourteenth century and then as the Seventeen Provinces in the 1540s.
The Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) divided the area into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands, the latter comprising most of modern Belgium. The Southern Netherlands were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs. Until independence the area was sought after by numerous French conquerors and was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Following the , the Low Countries—including territories that were never under Habsburg rule, such as the Bishopric of Liège—were annexed by the French First Republic, ending Spanish-Austrian rule in the region. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815.
The 1830 Belgian Revolution led to the establishment of an
independent, Catholic and neutral Belgium under a provisional government and a national congress. Since the installation of Leopold I as king in 1831, Belgium has been a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. Between independence and World War II, the democratic system evolved from an oligarchy characterised by two main parties, the Catholics and the Liberals, to a universal suffrage system that has included a third party, the Labour Party, and a strong role for the trade unions. French was originally the adopted language of the nobility and the bourgeoisie, and the official language. The country has since developed a bilingual Dutch-French system, but only in 1967 was an official Dutch version of the Constitution accepted.
The Berlin Conference of 1885 gave the Congo Free State to King Leopold II as his private possession. In 1908, it was ceded to Belgium as a colony, henceforth called the Belgian Congo. Belgian control of the Congolese population, particularly under Leopold II, was savage, and the country was plundered of resources such as ivory and rubber.
Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, as part of the Schlieffen Plan, and much of the Western Front fighting of World War I occurred in western parts of the country. Belgium took over the German colonies of Ruanda-Urundi (modern day Rwanda and Burundi) during the war, and they were mandated to Belgium in 1924 by the League of Nations. After the war, Belgium also annexed several German border towns, most notably Eupen and Malmedy and thereby caused the presence of a small German community in Belgium. Belgium was again invaded by Germany in 1940 during the blitzkrieg offensive, and occupied until its liberation by Allied troops in the winter of 1944–45. The Belgian Congo gained independence in 1960 during the Congo Crisis; Ruanda-Urundi followed two years later.
After World War II, Belgium joined NATO, headquartered at Brussels, and formed the Benelux group of nations with the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In 1951 Belgium became one of the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community, and in 1957 joined the European Atomic Energy Community and European Economic Community. The latter is now the European Union, for which Belgium hosts major administrative functions, including the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the extraordinary and committee sessions of the European Parliament.
Government and politics
Belgium is a constitutional, popular monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. During the twentieth century, particularly following World War II, Belgian politics became increasingly dominated by the autonomy of its two main communities. Intercommunal tensions rose, and the unity of the Belgian state was scrutinized.
The King (currently Albert II) is the head of state, though with limited prerogatives. He appoints ministers, including a Prime Minister, that have the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives to form the federal government. The numbers of Dutch- and French-speaking ministers are equal as prescribed by the Constitution. The judicial system is based on civil law and originates from the Napoleonic code. The Court of Cassation is the court of last resort, with the Court of Appeal one level below.
Belgium's political institutions are complex; most political power is organized around the need to represent the main language communities. Since around 1970, the significant national Belgian political parties have split into distinct components that mainly represent the political and linguistic interests of these communities. The major parties in each community, though close to the political centre, belong to three main groups: the right-wing Liberals, the social conservative Christian Democrats, and the left-wing Socialists. Other new, important parties include green, linguistic, and nationalist organizations.
A string of Christian Democrat coalition governments from 1958 was broken in 1999 after the first dioxin crisis, a major food intoxication scandal which led to the establishment of the Belgian Food Agency. A 'rainbow coalition' emerged from six parties: the Flemish and the French-speaking Liberals, Social Democrats, Greens. Later, a 'purple coalition' of Liberals and Social Democrats formed after the Greens lost most of their seats in the 2003 election. The government led by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt from 1999 to 2007 achieved a balanced budget, scheduled nuclear phase-out, and instigated legislation allowing more stringent war crime and more lenient soft drug usage prosecution. Restrictions on withholding euthanasia were reduced and same-sex marriage legalized. The government promoted active diplomacy in Africa, and opposed a military intervention during the Iraq disarmament crisis. Verhofstadt's coalition fared badly in the elections of 2007.
Communities and regions
The Federal State retains considerable prerogatives. These includes justice, defence, federal police, social security, nuclear energy, monetary policy and public debt, and other aspects of public finances. State-owned companies include the Post Office and—an exception in regionalized transport—Belgian Railways. It Federal Government is responsible for the obligations of Belgium and its federalized institutions towards the European Union and NATO. It controls substantial parts of public health, home affairs and foreign affairs.
Communities exercise competences only within linguistically determined geographical boundaries, originally oriented towards the individuals of a Community's language: culture (including audiovisual media), education, and the use of the relevant language. Extensions to personal matters less directly associated language comprise health policy (curative and preventive medicine) and assistance to individuals (protection of youth, social welfare, aid to families, immigrant assistance services, etc.).
Regions have broad authority in fields connected with their territory. These include economy, employment, agriculture, water policy, housing, public works, energy, transport, the environment, town and country planning, nature conservation, credit, and foreign trade. They supervise the provinces, municipalities, and intercommunal utility companies.
In several fields, the different levels each have their own say on specifics. With education, for instance, the autonomy of the Communities neither includes decisions about the compulsory aspect nor allows for setting minimum requirements for awarding qualifications, which remain federal matters. Averages for the years 2000 to 2006 show daily temperature minimums of 7 °C (45 °F) and maximums of 14 °C (57 °F), and monthly rainfall of 74 millimetres (2.9 in); these are about 1 degree centigrade and nearly 10 millimetres above last century's normal values, respectively.
Because of its high population density, location in the centre of Western Europe, and inadequate political effort, Belgium faces serious environmental problems. A 2003 report suggested Belgian rivers to have the lowest water quality of the 122 countries studied.
Economy
Belgium's economy and its transportation infrastructure are integrated with the rest of Europe. Its location at the heart of a highly industrialized region helps make it one of the world's ten largest trading nations. The economy is characterized by a highly productive work force, high GNP, and high exports per capita. One of the founding members of the European Union, Belgium strongly supports an open economy and the extension of the powers of EU institutions to integrate member economies. Belgium adopted the euro, the single European currency, In 1999 and fully replaced the Belgian franc in 2002. Since 1922, Belgium and Luxembourg have been a single trade market within a customs and currency union: the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union.
Belgium was the first continental European country to undergo the Industrial Revolution, in the early 1800s. Liège and Charleroi rapidly developed mining and steelmaking, which flourished until the mid-20th century. However, by the 1840s the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis and the region experienced famine from 1846–50.
After World War II, Ghent and Antwerp experienced a rapid expansion of the chemical and petroleum industries. The 1973 and 1979 oil crises sent the economy into a recession; it was particularly prolonged in Wallonia, where the steel industry had become less competitive and experienced serious decline. In the 1980s and 90s, the economic centre of the country continued to shift northwards and is now concentrated in the populous Flemish Diamond area.
By the end of the 1980s, Belgian macroeconomic policies had resulted in a cumulative government debt of about 120% of GDP. As of 2006, the budget was balanced and public debt was equal to 90.30% of GDP. In 2005 and 2006, real GDP growth rates of 1.5% and 3.0%, respectively, were slightly above the average for the euro area. Unemployment rates of 8.4% in 2005 and 8.2% in 2006 were close to the area average.
Demographics
By New Year 2004 nearly 92 percent of the Belgian population were national citizens, and 5.5 percent were citizens of the earliest 15 members of the European Union. The most prevalent foreign nationals were Italians (183,021), French (114,943), Dutch (100,700), Moroccans (81.763), Spanish (43,802), Turkish (41.336), and Germans (35,530).
Urbanisation
Almost all of the Belgian population is urban, at 97.2% in 2004. Statistics for 1991 indicate two out of three residents were owners of their dwelling in Flanders and Wallonia, compared to 40% in the Brussels-Capital Region. The population density of Belgium is 342 per square kilometre (886 per square mile) — one of the highest in Europe, after that of the Netherlands and some microstates such as Monaco. The most densely inhabited area is the Flemish Diamond, outlined by the Antwerp-Leuven-Brussels-Ghent agglomerations. The Ardennes have the lowest density. As of 2006, the Flemish Region had a population of about 6,078,600, with Antwerp (457,749), Ghent (230,951) and Bruges (117,251) its most populous cities; Wallonia had 3,413,978, with Charleroi (201,373), Liège (185,574) and Namur (107.178) its most populous. Brussels houses 1,018,804 in the Capital Region's 19 municipalities, two of which have over 100,000 residents. are not used in public life.
As no census exists, there are no official statistics on Belgium's three official languages or their dialects. Various criteria, including the language(s) of parents, of education, or the second-language status of foreign born, may affect suggested figures. An estimated 59% of the Belgian population speaks Dutch (often referred to as Flemish), and French is spoken by 40%. Total Dutch speakers are 6.23 million, concentrated in the northern Flanders region, while French speakers comprise 3.32 million in Wallonia and an estimated 0.87 million or 85% of the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region. The German-speaking Community is made up of 73,000 people in the east of the Walloon Region; around 10,000 German and 60,000 Belgian nationals are speakers of German. Roughly 23,000 more of German speakers live in municipalities near the official Community.
The situation of the Capital Region is complex. Geographically, it is an enclave of the Flemish Region near Wallonia. Constitutionally, it is considered a part of both the Dutch and French Communities, while as a Region it is politically distinct. A minority of approximately 0.15 million (15%) speaks Dutch, its local language until shortly before Belgium's independence. In general the population of Brussels is younger and the gap between rich and poor is wider.
In 2006, the country's largest French-speaking university published a survey report calling Flanders' leadership in speaking multiple languages "undoubtedly wellknown", and showing this lead to be considerable : of the Flemish respondents 59% could speak French and 53% English; of the Walloons on the other hand, only 19% Dutch and 17% English; of the Brussels' residents, 95% declared they can speak French, 59% Dutch, and 41% the non-local English. Economically significant in an increasingly globalizing epoch, in their respective regions 59%, 10%, and 28% of people under forty can speak all three forementioned languages. In each region, Belgium's third official language, German, is notably less known than those. Though an estimated 98 percent of the adult population is literate, concern is rising over
