Population of Belgium: number, density, ethnic composition. Population What kind of people live in Belgium
Sightseeing tours to Belgium offered by our travel company Travel Plan - "DSBW Travel Collection" are very popular among Russian tourists. Belgium is a small country, everything is compactly located here. Belgium amazes with the number of well-preserved medieval cities, with well-equipped modern museums, medieval canals, along which you can ride a boat, squares and historical buildings.
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In Belgium, in addition to its capital - Brussels, we suggest visiting the medieval cities of Ghent and Bruges, as well as the handsome Antwerp. For most tourists, Antwerp unfortunately remains a city for an hour. A short photo session on Antwerp's central square Grote Markt and a short walk in Rubens' house are definitely not enough to get to know beautiful Antwerp, which I remember as the chocolate capital of Belgium. Antwerp is worth it to spend at least one day here, learn all about the secrets of chocolate production, visit several famous chocolatiers and just stroll around beautiful Antwerp.
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Belgium is a small European country with a long and complicated history, which often echoed with other states. What characterizes the modern population of Belgium? We will learn about this further.
Short review
The Kingdom of Belgium is located in the western part of Europe. It is surrounded by the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg and Germany. To the northwest is the North Sea. Belgium is 368 people per square kilometer, and the area of the country is 30,528 km2. sq.
The state has gone through a long history, being part of the Roman Empire, the Duchy of Burgundy, the Netherlands and France. Belgium received full independence in 1839, declaring it back in 1830. Since then, it has been a constitutional monarchy ruled by a king.
The capital of the state and the largest city is Brussels. Here are the offices and headquarters of international communities, of which Belgium is a member (NATO, the European Union, the Benelux Secretariat). Large cities are also Bruges, Antwerp, Charleroi, Ghent.
Population of Belgium
The state ranks 77th in the world in terms of the number of inhabitants. The population of Belgium is 11.4 million. The natural increase is generally positive. The birth rate is only 0.11% higher than the death rate.
The percentage of the young population has been gradually decreasing since 1962. Then children aged 0 to 14 years old made up 24% of all residents, now - 17.2%. However, in recent years the trend has turned positive again. Residents over the age of 65 make up approximately 18.4%, almost 64.48% are between the ages of 15 and 64.
The table shows the gender structure of the population in more detail. Belgium is characterized by the predominance of the female population.
According to 2016 data, there are 1.78 children per woman, and the family size is 2.7 people. On average, women give birth to their first child at the age of 28. The predominant number of children appears in full-fledged families with two parents.
Ethnic composition
The population of Belgium consists of two large ethnic groups: the Flemings (58%) and the Walloons (31%). represented by the French, Italians, Dutch, Spaniards and Germans. Almost 9% of immigrants live in the country. This includes Poles, Moroccans, Turks, Indians, French, Italians, Congolese and others.
The Flemings and Walloons are the original inhabitants. The former are descendants of the Frisians, Saxons, Franks and Batavians. Their native language is Dutch and its numerous dialects. The Walloons are significantly inferior to the Flemings in numbers. They are the descendants of the Romanized Celtic tribes - the Belgae. They speak French and Walloon.
Belgium has three national languages. About 60% speak Dutch, nearly 40% speak French, and less than one percent speak German. Three-quarters of the population adheres to Catholicism, the rest profess other religions, among which Islam and Protestantism predominate.
Cultural disputes and differences
The population of Belgium is characterized by noticeable differences between indigenous ethnic groups. The culture of the Flemings is closest to the Dutch. They inhabit the northern region of the country, called Flanders. Art, architecture and folk poetry, due to historical events, are closely connected with the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Many cultural figures created their works in the Dutch language.
The Walloons are closest in spirit to the French. They share a language with them, although other aspects of life still differ due to the influence of the Germanic tribes. The Walloon Region covers five provinces in the south of the country, centered on Namur.
The Flemings have been competing with the Walloons for a long time. The first claims were voiced immediately after the declaration of independence of the country, since French became the official language throughout the territory. The Flemings immediately declared inequality, starting to reclaim their identity. Economic and cultural disputes have arisen throughout Belgian history, up to modern dates.
Employment
The working population of Belgium is 5.247 million. The unemployment rate reaches 8.6%, which puts the country in one of the first places in the European Union. Despite this, the state GDP is 30 thousand dollars per capita.
The large number of unemployed and the rather moderate pace of Belgium are associated with a lack of competitiveness and a lack of adaptation to new market conditions. With the emergence of new leaders in the industry, demand for the country's main products - textiles, engineering products, glass, and inorganic chemistry - has fallen.
Residents are employed in the service sector, which also slows down the restructuring of the economy. Currently, about 1% of the working population is engaged in agriculture. The service sector accounts for 74%, industry - 24% of the country's population. The rest are engaged in real estate, finance, transport and communications.
Population of Belgium in 1995 it was 10,081,880 people (1995). The average population density is about 330 people per km2. The main ethnic groups are the Flemings (55% of the total population) and the Walloons (33%), Germans and French also live in the country. There are three official languages in Belgium: Dutch or Flemish (about 60% of the country's population speaks it), French (32%) and German. The main religion is Catholic (75%), Protestantism, Islam, Judaism and Orthodoxy are also common. The birth rate in 1995 was 11.5 newborns per 1,000 people, the mortality rate was 10 deaths per 1,000 people (the infant mortality rate was 7 deaths per 1,000 newborns). Average life expectancy: men - 74 years, women - 81 years. The working-age population is 4,126,000 people, of which 64% are employed in the service sector, 28% in industry, 6% in construction, and about 2% in agriculture.
Since Belgium is geographically located almost in the center of Europe and borders on France, Germany and the Netherlands, it is not difficult to immediately assume that a sufficient number of Belgian citizens live here, who from birth or, as they say here, have a mother language, this is the language of the countries I have listed above .
However, everything is not so simple and this is one of the secrets of this country - the Chinese box with a secret. Spaniards, Italians, Poles, Germans, Hungarians and Romanians also live in Belgium, where a law has not yet been passed, as in the Netherlands, on a mandatory examination in one of the state languages when obtaining citizenship.
However, there are requirements to master one of the state languages for newcomers to Belgium, although not all new Belgian residents are in a hurry to fulfill these requirements.
It is known that in 1884 King Leopold II proved the need for Belgium to rule the Congo, therefore, even after the Congo gained independence, relations between Belgium and the Congo were maintained and are now constantly maintained.
And this means that the inhabitants of the Congo can freely come to Belgium and many of them stay here forever. In addition to them, there are many other representatives of the Black Continent here.
In 1999-2000, a wave of refugees from different countries flooded into Belgium. The small country did not open its doors for a long time, into which people seeking asylum literally poured in, from all over the world with and without children, who, first of all, had to be provided with housing and food.
These people brought with them new languages and different cultures. Gradually mastering one of the official languages of Belgium, they remained true to their national culture and traditions, enriching the local indigenous Belgians with new knowledge about these countries.
Multilingual people, each with their own culture, religion, habits and characteristics, together look like a scattering of multi-colored precious and non-precious stones on the banks of the same river of life called Belgium.
If we talk about the national composition of Belgium, then we can cite official data. Thus, as of January 2006, the following lived in Belgium: 4.4% of non-Europeans, 30,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union, 150-200,000 Turks and Kurds, 171,918 Italians, 125,061 French, 116,970 Dutch, 42,765 Spaniards, 37 621 Germans.
There were approximately 50,000 Russian-speaking residents without Belgian citizenship in 2008.
I already wrote earlier that Belgium is divided according to the linguistic principle into three regions: Flemish, accounting for approximately 58% (6 million people), Walloon - 31% (3 million people) and German - 7300 people. But after all, all other ethnic groups live on the territory of these regions, somewhere compactly, and somewhere “in a breakdown”.
The linguistic division of the country has always been a bone of contention in Belgium, not to mention the smaller inter-ethnic conflicts that flare up in the country from time to time, for example, between Turks and Kurds, as was the case a couple of years ago in Brussels.
And the problem of interethnic conflicts has not been resolved not only in Belgium, but also in many European countries, and, what to say, in many countries of the world. But this is a separate conversation.
Belgium had a population of 10.7 million in 2008. Due to a decrease in the birth rate, the population of the country has grown by only 6% in 30 years. And in 2003the birth rate was 10.45 per 1,000 inhabitants, and the death rate was 10.07 per 1,000 inhabitants. Population growth rate 0.15% (2002). Birth rate - 10.58%, mortality - 10.08% Child mortality reaches 4.64 people. per 1000 newborns (2002).
Life expectancy in Belgium is 78.29 (74.97 for men and 81.78 for women). About 900 thousand foreigners (Italians, Moroccans, French, Turks, Dutch, Spaniards, etc.) permanently live in Belgium.
Belgium is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. According to the average population density - about 320 people per 1 sq. km. km - it ranks second in Europe after the Netherlands (excluding microstates).
The central part of the country is especially populated - the Sambre and Meuse valleys and the strip along the Antwerp - Brussels - Charleroi axis, where the main industrial, commercial and transport life of the country is concentrated and the largest cities are located. Here on 1 sq. km accounts for from 7 to 1000 people.
In rural areas, the density is somewhat lower, although it remains relatively high, and only in the Ardennes does it drop to 50-100 people per 1 sq. km. km.
The educational level is high (98% of the country's inhabitants can read and write).
The structure of the population has a number of gender and age features. The number of the male population of the country as a whole is somewhat inferior to the female one (0.96). True, at birth it prevails (1.05), but then gradually loses its leadership.
At the age of 15-64, this figure almost levels off (1.02), and St. At the age of 65, there is already a significant gap (0.69). Age structure of the population: up to 14 years old - 17.3%, 15 -64 years old - 65.6%, 65 years and older - 17.1%. The retirement age ranges from 56-58 years. The vast majority of the population lives in cities (80.5%).
“The Belgians,” says the winged proverb, “do not exist in nature.” The population of Belgium breaks down (this word is not chosen by chance) into 58% Flemings in the northern part of the country, who speak the Dutch language, traditionally called Flemish in Belgium, and about 32% French-speaking Walloons in the south.
In addition, there are over 67,000 German-speaking inhabitants in the Eastern Cantons.
A high percentage of immigrants (and there are almost 870,000 of them here) leads to a mixture of languages. But language conflicts arise exclusively between the Walloons and the Flemings.
The indigenous population of Belgium consists of the Flemings - the descendants of the Frankish, Frisian and Saxon tribes, and the Walloons - the descendants of the Celts. The Flemings live mainly in the north of the country (in East and West Flanders). They are fair-haired and have an outward resemblance to the Dutch. The Walloons live mainly in the south and are similar in appearance to the French.
Belgium has three official languages. French is spoken in the southern part of the country, in the provinces of Hainaut, Namur, Liege and Luxembourg, the Flemish version of the Dutch language is in West and East Flanders, Antwerp and Limburg. The central province of Brabant with the capital Brussels is bilingual and is divided into northern Flemish and southern French parts.
The French-speaking regions of the country are united under the general name of the Walloon region, and the north of the country, where the Flemish language dominates, is commonly called the Flanders region. About 58% of Belgians live in Flanders, 33% in Wallonia, 9% in Brussels, and less than 1% in the German-speaking area that went to Belgium after the First World War.
Some Walloon families still speak Walloon French, but in Walloon schools Literary French is taught as their mother tongue. The literary Flemish language is similar to Dutch, but the spoken Flemish language, which is divided into the Brabant-Frankish and Limburg-Frankish dialects, is somewhat different from the spoken Dutch.
After the country gained independence, friction constantly arose between the Flemings and the Walloons, which complicated the social and political life of the country. As a result of the revolution of 1830, the task of which was to separate Belgium from the Netherlands, French became the official language.
In the following decades, Belgian culture was dominated by French influence. Francophonie strengthened the social and economic role of the Walloons, and this led to a new upsurge of nationalism among the Flemings, who demanded to equalize their language in status with French.
This goal was achieved only in the 1930s after the adoption of a series of laws that gave the status of the state language to the Dutch language, which began to be used in administrative matters, legal proceedings and teaching.
Long-term communication between the Flemings and the Walloons, economic and cultural ties growing between them, Belgian patriotism, which manifested itself in participation in the Resistance movement during the years of the Nazi occupation of both the Walloons and the Flemings, as well as the massive spread of bilingualism, gave some authors reason to talk about their merger into one "Belgian nation ".
However, many Flemings continued to feel like second-class people in their country, where they not only prevailed in numbers, but in the post-war period achieved a higher level of well-being compared to the Walloons.
Antagonism between the two communities intensified, and in 1971, 1980, and 1993 the constitution was amended to give each of them greater cultural and political autonomy.
The problem that haunted the Flemish nationalists for a long time was that their own language had become a chaotic set of dialects that had developed over a long period of Francophonie in education and culture.
However, after the First World War, the Flemish language gradually approached the literary norm of the modern Dutch language. In 1973, the Flemish Cultural Council decided that the language should be officially called Dutch and not Flemish.
Ethnic groups live predominantly in certain provinces. The northern part of the country (West and East Flanders, Vlaams-Brabant, Antwerp, Limburg) is inhabited by the Flemings, who speak a special language of the West Germanic group, close to Dutch.
The south is dominated by the Walloons (Brabant-Walloon, Hainaut, Liege, Namur), whose language is close to northern French (they represent the descendants of the Romanized Belgians). The same language is spoken by about 80% of the inhabitants of Brussels. Finally, in the east of the country (around the cities of Eupen and Malmedy) mostly Germans live.
Let the culture of Belgium grow from two different roots, but there is no enmity between them. Both Walloons and Flemings like to work hard and play fair.
They love to sit in a cafe, eat delicious food, having smart conversations with friends. The Belgians are not braggarts, but they are proud of their country, especially appreciate its excellent cuisine. Strong families and family ties are very important for our society, many families have lived side by side on the same street for centuries, and the older generation helps children raise their grandchildren.
Belgium is one of the most "traditionally urban" countries in the world, here you can observe many cities and urban-type settlements. There are practically no uninhabited territories and unused lands on the territory of the country.
About 70% of the total population lives in cities, which include settlements with more than 5 thousand inhabitants. However, the boundary between the city and the countryside is very arbitrary.
Many villages have outward signs of the city, and a significant part of their inhabitants work outside of agriculture. Therefore, in fact, the urban population prevails.
The capital of Belgium, Brussels, has 1.1 million inhabitants, Antwerp (over 900 thousand), Liege (more than 600 thousand), Rent and Charleroi (approximately 500 thousand inhabitants each). More than a quarter of the total population of the country lives in these cities.
Also in Belgium, the so-called highly urbanized territories are widespread, which are a cluster of several small cities and industrial towns, with a total population of more than 100 thousand people.
Examples include Borinage-Mons, Centre-Hainault. Courtray, Aalst-Ninove, La Louviere - Senef - Manage. Such clusters are distinguished by the absence of a clearly defined single center, as if absorbing other cities and towns. Urban agglomerations are located so close to each other that the zones of their influence and the boundaries of buildings are in contact.
The proximity of settlements to each other, as well as a well-developed road network and transport, have contributed to the fact that more than 40% of the active population of Belgium make daily work trips from one village or city to another.
The world wars relatively weakly affected the cities of Belgium, so many monuments of ancient architecture dating back to the early Middle Ages have been preserved in them.
In each city, its old, as a rule, central, part and new, usually located on the outskirts of industrial and residential areas with modern-type houses, stand out quite clearly.
In rural areas, you can find various forms of settlement and buildings. The Flemish part of the country is dominated by closely spaced farms; there are also villages, mainly of the cumulus type. In the countryside of the Walloon zone, the population lives mainly in villages.
In central Belgium, these are predominantly small villages of the street or cumulus type, and in the Ardennes they are rather large, far from each other villages along the river valleys.