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. Population. 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. As of January 1, 2020, Belgium has a population of 11,492,641 and  is the 80th most populous country in the world. The population of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels on January 1, 2019 was 6,589,069 (57.6% of Belgium), 3,633,795 (31.8% of Belgium) and 1,208,542 (10.6% of Belgium), respectively. The population density of Belgium is as of July 1, 2020, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world, and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe. The most densely populated province is Antwerp, the least densely populated province is Luxembourg. Immigration. According to Michèle Tribalat in the beginning of 2020, people of foreign background and their descendants were estimated to  have formed 32.1% of the total population. 54.3% of people below age 18 have foreign roots. Of these 'New Belgians', 55.1% are of non-Belgian European ancestry and 44.9% 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. 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. 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" 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. 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. Other demographic statistics. The following demographic statistics are from the World Population Review in 2019. The following demographic statistics are from  the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated. Belgian 75.2%, Italian 4.1%, Moroccan 3.7%, French 2.4%, Turkish 2%, Dutch 2%, other 10.6% (2012 est.) Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1% 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.) Definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2003 est.) Nationality. noun: Belgian(s) adjective: Belgian Linguistic groups. The country is populated by a Flemish majority of about 6,010,000 people speaking Dutch, a French-speaking minority of 5,480,000 people (Walloons and French-speakers in Brussels and  in Flanders (400.000) ), 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". The largest group of immigrants and their descendants in Belgium are Italians, with more than 450,000 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 340,359. The rest consists  mostly of French-speaking people from Brussels, Turks, Kurds, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Spaniards, Greeks, Bosniaks, Algerians, Congolese, Vietnamese, Poles, Indians, and Guineans (around 23% of Belgium's population is of non-Belgian origin). The exact number of French-speakers in Brussels is hard to determine, but it is estimated that 85% of the people living in Brussels use French and 10% 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. In the table are the top 30 countries by origin of the population of  Belgium in 2020 (source?) Languages. Belgium's three official languages are Dutch, spoken by about 60% of the population, French, spoken by about 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. English is the official (meetings) language of the European Commission, 10% of the job market in Brussels; also, Arabic is 2nd most spoken language in Brussels according to fresh sources (around 10 %) Religion. 58% of Belgians, are nominally Roman Catholic. Other Christians, Muslims and other minority religions comprise 14% of the population. 27% are agnostic, atheist or other non-believers.