Belgium, officially Kingdom of Belgium (French: Royaume de Belgique, German: Königreich Belgien) is a European state bounded by the North Sea in the west, the Netherlands in the north, in eastern Germany, Luxembourg in the southeast and France in the south.

The name "Belgae" was first mentioned by Julius Caesar, but Belgium was not an independent country until 1830 after separation from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Belgium has 10.666 million inhabitants and has a high population density of 349 inhabitants per square kilometer. Sixty percent of Belgians speak Dutch, forty percent French, 74,000 Belgians speak German as mother tongue.

The federal Belgium consists of three communities: the Flemish Community, French Community and German-speaking Community. Belgium is divided into three regions: the Dutch-speaking Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and French-German-speakers and the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region, where Dutch and French are legal equivalent.

The largest city and capital of Belgium is Brussels. The city is also the capital of Flanders and the French Community and the administrative center of the European Union.

The main economic activity in Belgium used to be heavy industry around the coal mines in Wallonia, but has shifted to industry around the ports of Flanders and services in Brussels.

21.4 percent of the area of the country is covered with forest, mainly in Wallonia. In Flanders are located outside the cities and industrial areas especially rural areas with no more forests then in the Kempen (east of the northern city of Antwerp and Limburg). Important forests in Brabant are Hallerbos, Soignes in Brussels and Heverlee and Meerdaal Forest in Leuven. The total forest area in Flanders amounts to 146,381 hectares and 22,135 hectares park is managed by municipalities and cities.

In the Ardennes is the vast nature, because the population is lower than in Flanders. A third of the area of Wallonia is wooded and that surface is also increasing. A large part of the forest is, however, natural pine forests with little power.

One of the most unspoilt spots of Belgium, the High Fens. By strict climate, many precipitation and severe, long winters there are rare plants, which are also typical for mountainous regions or Northern Europe.

Tip: Do you want to search a province on the map? You will find it here!

Provinces

Emergency numbers