Question: How many people live in Belgium?

Demographics of Belgium


This article is about the demographic features of the population of Belgium, including ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. All figures are from the National Institute for Statistics unless otherwise indicated.[1]
Population
Historical populationYearPop.±%1846 4,337,196—1856 4,529,460+4.4%1866 4,827,833+6.6%1876 5,336,185+10.5%1880 5,520,009+3.4%1890 6,069,321+10.0%1900 6,693,548+10.3%1910 7,423,784+10.9%1920 7,465,782+0.6%1930 8,092,004+8.4%1947 8,512,195+5.2%1961 9,189,741+8.0%1970 9,650,944+5.0%1981 9,848,647+2.0%1991 9,978,681+1.3%2001 10,296,350+3.2%2011 11,000,638+6.8%2018 11,376,070+3.4%Source: Statistics Belgium



Belgium had a population of 11,190,846 people on 1 January 2015 as compared to the 10,839,905 people on 1 January 2010, an increase of 601,000 in comparison to 2000 (10,239,085 inhabitants). Between 1990 (9,947,782 inhabitants) and 2000 the increase was only 291,000.
The population of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels on January 1, 2010 was 6,251,983 (57.7%), 3,498,384 (32.3%) and 1,089,538 (10.1%), respectively.
Immigration

In the beginning of 2012, people of foreign background and their descendants were estimated to have formed 25% of the total population.[2]
Of these 'New Belgians', 1,200,000 (49%) are of European ancestry and 1,350,000 (51%)[3] are from non-Western countries.
Since the relaxation of the Belgian nationality law more than 1.3 million migrants have acquired Belgian citizenship and are now considered new Belgians. 89.2% of inhabitants of Turkish origin have been naturalized, as have 88.4% of people of Moroccan background, 75.4% of Italians, 56.2% of the French and 47.8% of Dutch people.[3]
In 2007, there were 1.38 million foreign-born residents in Belgium, corresponding to 12.9% of the total population. Of these, 685 000 (6.4%) were born outside the EU and 695 000 (6.5%) were born in another EU Member State.[4]
Life expectancy at birth from 1841-2015
Sources: Our World In Data and the United Nations.
1841-1950











1950-2015

Source: UN World Population Prospects[6]
Total Fertility Rate from 1830 to 1899
The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.[7]







Vital statistics from 1900
Note: Territorial changes in East-Belgium occurred in 1925, 1940 and 1944.

Total fertility rate
The total fertility rate (TFR) gradually increased during the last decade from 1.60 in 1997, 1.65 in 2002 and 1.82 in 2007. The rates in Brussels are higher than the national average (1.79 in 1997, 1.93 in 2002 and 2.09 in 2007), while they are below the average in Flanders (1.54 in 1997, 1.56 in 2002 and 1.77 in 2007), due to the higher percentage of non-European immigrants with higher birth rates in Brussels.[9]
Other demographic statistics
The following demographic statistics are from the World Population Review.[10]
One birth every 4 minutes
One death every 5 minutes
Net gain of one person every 8 minutes
One net migrant every 11 minutes
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.[8]

Population
11,570,762 (July 2018 est.)
11,491,346 (July 2017 est.)
Age structure
0-14 years: 17.2% (male 1,019,427 /female 970,845)
15-24 years: 11.25% (male 664,789 /female 636,452)
25-54 years: 39.82% (male 2,323,488 /female 2,283,533)
55-64 years: 12.96% (male 742,842 /female 756,509)
65 years and over: 18.78% (male 948,956 /female 1,223,921) (2018 est.)
0-14 years: 17.16% (male 1,010,201/female 961,994)
15-24 years: 11.34% (male 665,483/female 637,700)
25-54 years: 40.05% (male 2,320,845/female 2,281,411)
55-64 years: 12.86% (male 732,062/female 746,212)
65 years and over: 18.58% (male 929,594/female 1,205,844) (2017 est.)
Total fertility rate
1.78 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 151st
Median age
total: 41.5 years. Country comparison to the world: 39th
male: 40.3 years
female: 42.7 years (2018 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth
28.6 years (2013 est.)
Population growth rate
0.67% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 145th
Birth rate
11.3 births/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 175th
Death rate
9.7 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)
Net migration rate
5.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 22nd
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 81.2 years (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 31st
male: 78.6 years (2018 est.)
female: 83.9 years (2018 est.)
total population: 81.1 years. Country comparison to the world: 30th
male: 78.5 years
female: 83.8 years (2017 est.)
Male: 74.4 in 1999, 77.2 (2009)
Female: 80.9 in 1999, 82.4 (2009)
Total: 77.7 in 1999, 79.8 (2009)
Infant mortality rate
total: 3.4 deaths/1,000 live births. Country comparison to the world: 207th
male: 3.8 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 3 deaths/1,000 live births (2017 est.)
4.8 in 2010
3.4 in 2011
Net migration rate
5.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 22nd
Ethnic groups
Belgian 75%, Italian 4.1%, Moroccan 3.7%, French 2.4%, Turkish 2%, Dutch 2%, other 12.8% (2011 est.)
Languages
Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1%
Religions
Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant and other Christian 2.5%, Muslim 5%, Jewish 0.4%, Buddhist 0.3%, atheist 9.2%, none 32.6% (2009 est.)
Dependency ratios
total dependency ratio: 54.2
youth dependency ratio: 26.2
elderly dependency ratio: 28
potential support ratio: 3.6 (2015 est.)
Urbanization
urban population: 98% of total population (2018)
rate of urbanization: 0.62% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)
total: 20 years
male: 19 years
female: 21 years (2014)
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24
total: 22.1%. Country comparison to the world: 58th
male: 23.8%
female: 20% (2015 est.)
Sex ratio
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2016 est.)
Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2003 est.)
Total population: 99%
Male: 99%
Female: 99%
Education expenditures
6.6% of total GDP (2010) Ccountry comparison to the world: 30th
Nationality
noun: Belgian(s)

adjective: Belgian
Ethnic groups
The country is populated by a Flemish majority of about 6,400,000 people speaking Dutch, a French-speaking minority of 4,100,000 people (Walloons and French-speakers in Brussels), as well as 73,000 German speaking people in Wallonia, near the German border. However, David Levinson reports that "the Flemish and Walloon groups are described by experts as "communities" rather than as ethnic groups, and individuals can move easily from one community to the other by learning to speak the other language".[11]
The largest group of immigrants and their descendants in Belgium are Italians, with more than 450,000[2] people, which is well over 4% of Belgium's total population. The Moroccans are the third-largest group, and the largest Muslim ethnic group, numbering 220,000.[2][12]
The rest consists mostly of French-speaking people from Brussels, Turks, Kurds[13], Dutch, French, Portuguese, Spaniards, Greeks, Bosniaks, Algerians, Congolese, Vietnamese, Poles, Indians, and Guineans (around 23% of Belgium's population is of non-Belgian origin).[14]
The exact number of French-speakers in Brussels is hard to determine, but it is estimated that 80% of the people living in Brussels use French and 20% use Dutch in their households, as the sole language or secondary language, while Arabic is also largely spoken. See the Brussels article for more details.
[15]
In the table are the top 10 countries by origin of the population of Belgium in 2017

Languages

Belgium's three official languages are Dutch, spoken by 59% of the population, French, spoken by 40%, and German, spoken by less than 1%. The vast majority of Belgium's population, 99%, is literate as defined by the Belgian government, i.e. capable of reading and writing in an official language by the time a citizen has reached the age of 15.
Religion

58% of Belgians, are nominally Roman Catholic. Muslims, other Christians and other minority religions comprise 14% of the population. 27% are agnostic, atheist or other non-believers.[16]
See also
Belgian nationality law
Metropolitan areas in Belgium
Notes


This article incorporatespublic domain material from the CIA World Factbookdocument .