Belgium Population, Main Cities and Geography

Belgium: population and cities

Population

According to Countryaah website, Belgium has around 11 million residents.

Ethnic composition

Flemings 59%,
Walloons 40%
Germans around 1% (60,000)
Others under 1% (mostly Europeans)

Religious affiliation

Catholics approx. 8 million
Protestants about 75,000
Orthodox about 40,000
Muslims about 400,000
Jews about 35,000

National language

The language dispute between the Walloons and Flemings, which is also a cultural and economic dispute, is increasingly separating the French-speaking Walloons from the Flemings living in the north. Meanwhile, there is more and more talk of a separation of the country along the lines of the separation of what was then Czechoslovakia

Dutch (Flemish 59%)
French (Walloons 40%)

German (Eupen-Malmedy 1%)

Capital, other cities

The capital of Belgium is Brussels (Bruxelles) with a population of 1,160,500 in the metropolitan area. According to Abbreviation Finder, BEL stands for Belgium in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.

Other cities are:

Antwerp 448,700
Ghent (Gent) 226,200
Charleroi 200,600
Liège 185.100
Bruges (Bruges) 116,800
Namur 105,400

Belgium: geography, map

Boundaries, coastline

Belgium has a common border with a total of 4 countries:

Germany with a length of around 167 km,
France with a length of around 620 km,
Luxembourg with a length of around 148 km,
Netherlands with a length of around 450 km.

Belgium has a coast to the North Sea with a length of around 66 km. Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of Belgium.

surface

Belgium covers an area of around 30,528 km².

Thereof:

ForestAround 21% of the country is forested.
AgricultureAround 46% of the land is used as arable land or fields.
Othersaround 32%

Tidal range

The mean tidal range on the Belgian coast is around 3 m. (For a detailed explanation of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow).

Compare

The world’s highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 m, and at spring tide even over 20 m. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax. On the German North Sea coast it varies between 1 m and 3 m. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 m, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

Belgium extends over the following latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

Δφ = from 49 ° 30 ‘to 51 ° 30’ north latitude Δλ = from 2 ° 32 ‘to 6 ° 24’ east longitude

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Legal time

Central European Time (CET) or Central European Summer Time (CEST) applies to Belgium:

Δt (CET) = 0 h

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

The highest point of the sun in Brussels

Brussels lies at a north latitude of around φ = 51 °.

If the sun is at the tropic, i.e. at δ = 23.5 °, summer will start in Brussels on June 21st. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):

51 ° = (90 ° – h) + 23.5 °

so:

H = 62.5 °

At 62.5 °, the sun has the highest level of the entire year above the horizon (precisely: above the horizon).