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Demographics of Brussels
Demographics of Brussels
	Population pyramid of Brussels in 2022
Population	1,222,657 (2022)
Growth rate	0.22% (2021)
Fertility rate	1.7 children per woman (2019)

The demographics of Brussels are monitored by Statistics Belgium. Brussels population is currently 1,222,657 as of 2022.^[1]

Population

The current population of Brussels (officially the Brussels Capital Region) in 2022 was 1,222,637^[1] In recent years, the city has received a markable increase in its population. In general, the population of Brussels is younger than the national average, and the gap between rich and poor is wider.

Growth rate

The population growth rate within Brussels for 2021 was 0.22%.^[1]

Density

The density of Brussels is also high, Brussels is one of the most urbanised areas of Europe.

Life expectancy

The life expectancy is Brussels is 79.61 years of age in 2020.^[2]


Life expectancy in Brussels^[2]	Years
Life expectancy in Brussels^[2]	1996	2000	2005	2010	2015	2019	2020
Total	77.46	77.94	79.04	79.7	80.86	81.59	79.61
Men	73.96	74.62	75.99	76.92	78.11	79.08	76.93
Women	80.54	80.89	81.76	82.73	83.36	83.86	82.19

Fertility

The total fertility rate within Brussels in 2019 is 1.7 children per woman.^[3]


Total fertility rate within Brussels	Year^[3]
	1971	1976	1981	1986	1991	1996	2001	2006	2011	2016	2019
	1.98	1.66	1.71	1.76	1.8	1.79	2.03	2.11	1.96	1.82	1.7

The total number of births in Brussels is declining.

Total number of births in Brussels^[3]	Year
Total number of births in Brussels^[3]	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Births	17,709	17,377	16,854	15,847	15,690

Age of first birth and childbearing

The average age of which a mother gives birth has been consistently rising since figures go back to 1998

Age of motherhood^[3]	Year
Age of motherhood^[3]	1998	2000	2002	2004	2006	2008	2010	2012	2014	2016	2018	2019
First birth	26.8	28	28	28.4	28.6	28.7	29.1	29.2	29.8	30.1	30.2	30.5
Average age of childbearing overall	29.5	29.7	29.7	30	30.2	30.5	30.7	31	31.4	31.6	31.9	32.1

Age

The average age of Brussels is much lower than on average the rest of Belgium.

Brussels^[1]	2022
Brussels^[1]	Less the 18 years	18 to 64	65 years or more
Population	273,645	788,876	160,116

Language

Today, the Brussels-Capital Region is legally bilingual, with both French and Dutch having official status,^[5] as is the administration of the 19 municipalities.^[6]

Owing to migration and to its international role, Brussels is home to a large number of native speakers of languages other than French or Dutch. Currently, about half of the population speaks a home language other than these two.^[7] In 2013, academic research showed that approximately 17% of families spoke none of the official languages in the home, while in a further 23% a foreign language was used alongside French. The share of unilingual French-speaking families had fallen to 38% and that of Dutch-speaking families to 5%, while the percentage of bilingual Dutch-French families reached 17%. At the same time, French remains widely spoken: in 2013, French was spoken "well to perfectly" by 88% of the population, while for Dutch this percentage was only 23% (down from 33% in 2000);^[6] the other most commonly known languages were English (30%), Arabic (18%), Spanish (9%), German (7%) and Italian and Turkish (5% each).^[4] Despite the rise of English as a second language in Brussels, including as an unofficial compromise language between French and Dutch, as well as the working language for some of its international businesses and institutions, French remains the lingua franca and all public services are conducted exclusively in French or Dutch.

Religion

Religions in the Brussels-Capital Region (2016)^[8] ^[9]

Roman Catholicism (40%)

Islam (23%)

Protestantism (3%)

Other religions (4%)

Non-religious (30%)

Historically, Brussels has been predominantly Roman Catholic, especially since the expulsion of Protestants in the 16th century. This is clear from the large number of historical churches in the region, particularly in the City of Brussels. The pre-eminent Catholic cathedral in Brussels is the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, serving as the co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Mechelen–Brussels. On the north-western side of the region, the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart is a Minor Basilica and parish church, as well as the 14th largest church building in the world. The Church of Our Lady of Laeken holds the tombs of many members of the Belgian royal family, including all the former Belgian monarchs, within the Royal Crypt.

In reflection of its multicultural makeup, Brussels hosts a variety of religious communities, as well as large numbers of atheists and agnostics. Minority faiths include Islam, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, and Buddhism. A 2016 survey revealed that approximately 40% of Brussels residents identified as Catholics (12% practicing and 28% non-practicing), 30% as non-religious, 23% as Muslim (19% practicing and 3% non-practicing), 3% as Protestants (2% born-again, primarily Pentecostals and some Evangelicals, and 1% from mainline Protestantism), and 4% adhered to other religions. Among born-again Protestants, 93% were practicing (98% of Pentecostals and 86% of Evangelicals), whereas only 29% of mainline Protestants were practicing Christians, with 71% non-practicing.^[8]^[9]

As guaranteed by Belgian law, recognised religions and non-religious philosophical organisations (French: organisations laïques, Dutch: vrijzinnige levensbeschouwelijke organisaties)^[10] enjoy public funding and school courses. It was once the case that every pupil in an official school from 6 years old to 18 had to choose 2 hours per week of compulsory religious—or non-religious-inspired morals—courses. However, in 2015, the Belgian Constitutional court ruled religious studies could no longer be required in the primary and secondary educational systems.^[11]

Brussels has a large concentration of Muslims, mostly of Moroccan, Syrian and Iraqi ancestry. The Great Mosque of Brussels, located in the Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark, is the oldest mosque in Brussels. Belgium does not collect statistics by ethnic background or religious beliefs, so exact figures are unknown. It was estimated that, in 2005, people of Muslim background living in the Brussels Region numbered 256,220 and accounted for 25.5% of the city's population, a much higher concentration than those of the other regions of Belgium.^[12]

Origin

Belgium does not collect ethnic data of its citizens but does have a unique classification on the status of where its citizens originate from. This classification is not based on the place of birth, but takes into account previous nationalities of the person and of their parents.^[13]

In 2020, 67,9% of the residents of Belgium at large were of Belgian origin (i.e., the resident had no previous nationality other than Belgian and both of their parents have the Belgian nationality as first nationality), and 32,1% were of overall foreign origin. Of these foreign origin residents, 14,7% were of non-European origin and 8,5% were of African origin.^[13]

A total of 37.5% of Brussels residents are of non-European origin as of 2023, according to Statistics Belgium.^[14]

In 2020, among those aged under 18, 83,9% had at least one parent of non-Belgian origin and of those 60,1% of non-European origin (including 37% of African origin).^[13]

Group of origin	Year
	2001^[15]		2006^[15]		2011^[15]		2016^[15]		2023^[15]
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%

Belgians with Belgian background	486,864	50.5%	433,338	42.5%	385,436	34.4%	342,026	28.9%	289,871	23.4%
Belgians with foreign background^{[fn 1]}	214,770	22.2%	311,773	30.6%	381,308	34.1%	434,789	36.6%	493,152	39.7%
Neighbouring country^{[fn 2]}	27,024		28,386		30,215		32,463		37,524
Other EU	34,211		38,468		42,395		47,531		55,249
Other Europe	25,505		39,154		46,513		50,384		51,087
Non-European	118,054	12.2%	192,235		246,431		287,598		328,719	26.5%
Not classified	9,976		13,530		15,754		16,813		20,573
Non-Belgians	262,771	27.2%	273,693	26.9%	352,344	31.5%	411,075	34.6%	458,152	36.9%
Neighbouring country^{[fn 3]}	55,613		62,721		76,482		85,953		91,520
Other EU	87,602		97,320		136,090		173,082		186,589
Other Europe	20,095		17,798		21,337		21,326		34,426
Non-European	95,147	9.9%	90,769		112,507		124,230		136,016	11%
Not classified	4,314		5,085		5,928		6,484		9,601
Total	964,405	100%	1,018,804	100%	1,119,088	100%	1,187,890	100%	1,241,175	100%

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Structure of the Population | Statbel". statbel.fgov.be. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
^ ^a ^b "Life expectancy and life tables | Statbel". statbel.fgov.be. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Births and fertility | Statbel". statbel.fgov.be. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
^ ^a ^b Janssens, Rudi (2013). BRIO-taalbarometer 3: diversiteit als norm [BRIO language barometer 3: diversity as standard] (PDF) (in Dutch). Brussels Informatie-, Documentatie- en Onderzoekscentrum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
^ "La Constitution belge (Art. 4)" (in French). the Belgian Senate. May 2007. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 2009-01-18. La Belgique comprend quatre régions linguistiques : la région de langue française, la région de langue néerlandaise, la région bilingue de Bruxelles-Capitale et la région de langue allemande..
^ ^a ^b Janssens, Rudi (2008). "Language use in Brussels and the position of Dutch". Brussels Studies. Brussels Studies [Online]. doi:10.4000/brussels.520. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
^ "Van autochtoon naar allochtoon". De Standaard (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2007. Meer dan de helft van de Brusselse bevolking is van vreemde afkomst. In 1961 was dat slechts 7 procent. [More than half of the Brussels' population is of foreign origin. In 1961 this was only 7 percent.]
^ ^a ^b Elodie Blogie (28 January 2016). "75% des francophones revendiquent une identité religieuse". Le Soir.be (in French). Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Un sondage ORELA/IPSOS/Le Soir/RTBF : « Les Belges francophones et la religion »". Observatoire des religions et de la laicité. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
^ "Religious Freedom in Belgium". Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Georgetown University. Archived from the original on 21 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
^ Andy Furniere (13 March 2015). "Lessons in religion no longer obligatory in Belgium". Flanders Today. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
^ "Bericht uit het Gewisse" [Message from the Gewisse]. www.npdata.be (in Dutch). 11 September 2008. Archived from the original on 21 November 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2010. In België wonen 628.751 moslims(Berekend aantal), 6,0% van de bevolking. In Brussel is dit 25,5%, in Wallonië 4,0%, in Vlaanderen 3,9% [In Belgium there are 628,751 Muslims (Calculated number), 6.0% of the population. In Brussels this is 25.5%, in Wallonia 4.0%, in Flanders 3.9%.]
^ ^a ^b ^c Michèle Tribalat, Population d'origine étrangère en Belgique en 2020 Archived 2 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine, 8 February 2021
^ "Origin | Statbel". statbel.fgov.be. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Origin | Statbel". statbel.fgov.be. Retrieved 2022-02-10.

^ The number includes Belgian nationals who either previously were foreign nationals themselves or at least one of their parents was a foreign national.
^
This category includes;
- Germany;
- France;
- Luxembourg;
- the Netherlands;
- the United Kingdom;
^
This category includes;
- Germany;
- France;
- Luxembourg;
- the Netherlands;
- the United Kingdom;