Language

Official language
Dutch (54.2%), French (41.1%) and German (0.7%)

T-index 0.57%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

Other languages
Walloon 33%, Flemish 60%. About 10% of the Belgian population are non-native, and languages spoken include Italian, Spanish, Greek, Arabic and Turkish.

English
Very high proficiency (EF) – 6 of 112 countries/regions in the world- 5/35 position in Europe.

Demography

Capital: Brussels
Currency: Euro
Population: 11,59 m
Population density: 383/km2

Economy

GDP: 599.88 billion USD (2019)
GDP per capita: 51,767.8 USD ‎(2019) ‎
Exports: $309 billion (2020)

Statistics

Internet users: 94% penetration, 10.95 million
Unemployment rate: 6.3% (2021)
Urbanisation: 98% (2020)
Literacy: 99% (2019)

Conventions

Numbering system
Arabic numerals with comma as decimal separator, dot and sometimes a space as thousands separator.

Date format: yyyy-mm-dd / dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 0032

Economy

Imports
$332 billion (2020).  Cars ($22.6B), Packaged Medicaments ($17.3B), Blood, antisera, vaccines, toxins and cultures ($16.5B), Refined Petroleum ($11.2B), and Diamonds ($8.58B), importing mostly from Netherlands ($56.1B), Germany ($47.7B), France($34.6B), United States ($22.4B), and Italy ($16.6B).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 99% have an account with a financial institution
• 48% have a credit card
• 71% make online purchases

Ease of doing business
It is very easy to conduct business (rated 75 out of 100) ranked 26th out of 44 European countries ranked 46th out of 190 countries worldwide (2020, World Bank).

Exports
$309 billion (2020). Cars ($21.9B), Packaged Medicaments ($21.6B), Blood, antisera, vaccines, toxins and cultures ($21.3B), Refined Petroleum ($12.2B), and Diamonds ($8.86B), exporting mostly to Germany ($45.7B), France ($44.4B), Netherlands ($37.1B), United States ($24.7B), and United Kingdom ($20.1B).

Main local online stores
Bol.com, Coolblue, Amazon France, Zalando, Apple, Amazon US, Vanden Borre, MediaMarkt, Amazon Germany, Vente-exclusive.com (Vespee).

Economic freedom
‘Moderately free’ (rated 67.3 out of 100) ranked 23rd out of 43 European countries ranked 48th out of 186 countries worldwide (2019, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Global Innovation Index
Ranked 16th out of 39 European countries, and 26th out of 132 worldwide.

The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation
ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

Media

Media language
French, Dutch, English

Information channels
Belgium’s media scene reflects the country’s cultural make-up. The Flemish, French and German language communities are served by largely separate public and private operators. So, unlike most other European countries, Belgium does not have a single public broadcasting organisation. Media ownership is very concentrated. Most newspapers, TV and radio outlets are owned by a small number of Belgian companies. De Persgroep is the largest private media group. Cable TV is widely watched and stations in neighbouring countries, particularly France and the Netherlands, have large audiences. Global media watchdogs give Belgium high ratings for press freedom. A law on journalists’ rights to keep their contacts confidential is “one of the most protective in the world”, says Reporters Without Borders.

The press

Het Nieuwsblad – Dutch-language daily
Het Laatste Nieuws – Dutch-language daily
Le Soir – French-language daily
De Standaard – Dutch-language daily
De Tijd – business daily
De Morgen – Dutch-language daily
La Libre Belgique – French-language
Grenz-Echo – German-language

Television

RTBF – French-language public broadcaster
VRT – Dutch-language public broadcaster
VTM – Dutch-language commercial broadcaster
Vier – Dutch-language commercial broadcaster
RTL – French-language commercial broadcaster

Radio

RTBF – public, French-language public broadcaster; stations include La Premiere, Classic 21, Vivacite
VRT – public, Dutch-language public broadcaster; stations include Radio 1, Studio Brussel
Belgischer Rundfunk (BRF) – German-language public broadcaster

News agency

Belga Press Agency Flandersnews.be – English-language news site of Dutch-language public broadcaster

Internet Data

Internet users
94% penetration, 10.95 million

Share of web traffic by device
37.93% mobile phones, 59.06% computers (laptops and desktops), 2.944% tablet devices, others 0.07%

Median speed of mobile internet connection
47.98%

Median speed of fixed internet connection
77.58%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 97.3%

Number of mobile connections as a percentage of the population: 98.7%

Most popular web search engines
Google (94.28%), Bing (3.42%), Ecosia (0.94%), Yahoo (0.7%) DuckduckGo (0.44%), Qwant (0.05%)

Most used social media
Facebook (55.65%), Pinterest (25.85%), Twitter (8.86%), Instagram (6.53%), YouTube (1.9%), Tumblr (0.71%)