About Belgium

Basic Facts

Belgium is a Western European country of 10m inhabitants, neighboring The Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France. Belgium is a founding member of the European Union and NATO both of which are Headquartered in Brussels, the capital of the country. There are three national languages Dutch, French and German. Major cities are Brussels, Antwerp, Brugge, Liege and Charleroi.

It has a GNI per capita of $32,640 and a GDP of $364.7billion (source : World Bank - Data and Statistics 2005).  

Government

Belgium is a constitutional monarchy. The Head of States is King Albert II and the Government is headed by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt since 1999.

Mr. Didier Reynders, Minister of Finance, is Belgium's Governor to the World Bank. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is Mr. Karel De Gucht and the Minister of Development Cooperation is Mr. Armand De Decker.

Since 1993, Belgium is a federal state composed of three Regions (Flanders, Brussels, Wallonia) and three Communities (the Flemish, the Wallonia-Brussels and the German-speaking Community) whose jurisdiction and territory overlap partly. Regions are mainly responsible for economic matters (e.g. employment, transport, etc.) while Communities are active in cultural areas (e.g. education, youth, etc). For more information on Belgium’s subnational entities, click here.