As of 2021, Belgium has a population of 11.6 million, making it the 80th largest country in the world by this measure. There are 49.3% males and 50.7% females.

There are 4.7 million people employed in Belgium, with an unemployment rate of 7% – 349,998 people.


Belgium is the 24th largest economy in the world with a GDP of $558.8bn. Belgium’s GDP has grown by 14% between 2010 and 2021 and is expected to grow by 17% by 2025.

As of 2021 there are 561,038 students in tertiary education in Belgium, with 1.2 million students in secondary and 852,786 in primary education. Belgium spent 6.9% of its GDP on education in 2019.

Belgium ranked 46th in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report (2020). In the 2019 report it finished 45th. In the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (2019), Belgium finished 22nd, after ranking 22nd in 2018.

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Public healthcare expenditure totalled $42.6bn and private healthcare expenditure equalled $12.5bn in 2018.

The largest urban areas in Belgium are Brussels (2.6 million people), Antwerp (1.1 million) and Liege (713,102).