Demographics of Belgium - Statistics & Facts

Nestled in between the likes of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the North Sea, Belgium boasts the 12th largest population in Europe. As of January 2022, almost 11.58 million people called Belgium their home, which has increased by approximately 100,000 every year since 2009. Around 117,900 births were registered in 2021 in Belgium, compared to 112,300 deaths in the same year, indicating a natural population increase of around 5,600. In line with improvements in modern medicine, life expectancy has gradually increased in recent years, before experiencing a small dip following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This has also contributed to the aging population seen across much of the western world, as the median age rose rapidly from 40.85 years in 2010 to almost 42 years in 2021 and the population aged 65 years and older rose from 1.8 million in 2009 to 2.3 million in 2022.

Regional differences

Regional differences are stark in the small European nation. It is often divided into three regions: the Brussels-Capital region, Flanders, and Wallonia. Of the three, the Flemish region is the most populated with 6.7 million inhabitants. This is followed by the Walloon region with 3.66 million inhabitants, and the Brussels-Capital region with 1.22 million inhabitants. This does not paint the full picture; though the whole of Belgium had a population density of around 375 residents per square kilometer, it was over 20 times as high in the Brussels-Capital region, reaching 7,511 residents per square kilometer in 2021. By comparison, the population density of Flanders and Wallonia was 488 and 216 residents per square kilometer respectively. The Brussels-Capital region continued to be significantly different to the other two regions when looking at the foreigners residing in each region. While there were around 1,000 times as many Belgian-natives as foreigners in Flanders and Wallonia, this was only about two times as high in Brussels-Capital, indicating a much higher presence of foreigners.

Migration

In 2021, Belgium registered a migration balance of over 58,000, indicating that the number of immigrants moving to Belgium outnumbered the number of people leaving the country by about 58,000. The migration balance has been positive since at least 2010, having never dipped below 34,000 since then. Though the net migration was very similar between men and women, the picture becomes a lot clearer when diving into the specifics, as a significant majority of both immigrants and emigrants were men, with around 15,000 more men immigrating into Belgium and 15,000 more men emigrating out of Belgium in 2020. Belgium received a further 26,000 asylum applications in 2021, of which over 6,500 came from Afghanistan, more than twice as much as the country with the second most asylum applications: Syria with 2,900. Not all asylum requests are successfully granted, however, as in 2021 only 9,200 asylums for refugees were granted, out of 58,000 applications.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Jan 10, 2024

Key insights

Population of Belgium
11.7m
Migration balance of Belgium
116.5k
Human Development Index of Belgium
0.94
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Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Total population of Belgium from 2009 to 2023

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Total population of Belgium 2009-2023

Foreign population of Belgium in 2020, by origin

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Foreign population of Belgium in 2020, by origin

Human development index of Belgium from 1990 to 2021

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Human development index Belgium 1990-2021

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Belgium
Belgium
Demographics of the Netherlands
Demographics of the Netherlands
Demographics of Luxembourg
Demographics of Luxembourg
Key economic indicators in Belgium
Key economic indicators in Belgium
Job market in Belgium
Job market in Belgium
Politics in Belgium
Politics in Belgium
Women in Belgium
Women in Belgium
Coronavirus impact on the Belgian economy
Coronavirus impact on the Belgian economy
Global demographics
Global demographics

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