Belgium has a multicultural landscape; a variety of nationalities coexist in the country. Brussels houses most of the European Union institutions. This is the reason behind the nickname "capital of Europe". In 2020, over one million foreigners were living in the country. Of the variety of nationalities in Belgium, three main origins were present on its soil. In 2020, around 485,340 people originated from France, Italy, or the Netherlands.

The migration flow in Belgium

Migration has always been part of human history. However, it is still one of society's most controversial topics. Nowadays, immigration within the European Union is primarily influenced by economic reasons. In 2020, the migration flow amounted to about 117,500 people coming to Belgium. Meanwhile, 55,769 nationals emigrated abroad.

Belgian’s views on immigration

Although Belgium has known many migration waves in its past, views on the matter still divide. In 2017, opinions in Belgium on immigrants coming from outside the EU were varied. Nonetheless, the fifth most common origin of foreigners in Belgium was Moroccan. In recent years, more than 60 percent of Belgians believed too many immigrants lived in the country. However, Belgians regarded EU citizens immigrating to their country positively.

The Brussels-Capital region counted over **** million people in 2023, of which approximately ******* were Belgian and ******* were non-Belgian. Both Belgians and non-Belgians have contributed to the growth in population of the Belgian region in the past two decades.

Purpose and brief description The statistic includes all divorces recorded in the civil register of Belgian municipalities. As a result, this statistic also includes all divorces for marriages not contracted in Belgium and not included in the statistics on marriages. The registration of a divorce is done at the municipality where the marriage was contracted. If the marriage was contracted abroad, the divorce is entered in the register of the municipality of Brussels, which explains the special situation of this municipality in this matter. The various tables cover: the evolution of the number of divorces per region and per province, the divorces of the year broken down by age group and by region, by previous civil status and by region, by duration of the dissolved marriage and by region. They also cover the evolution of the number of divorced persons who were married to a person of the same sex. But this last table has another source. Population All divorces Frequency Annually Timing of publication Results available 8 months after the reference period. Definitions Nationality of the first spouse: Country of the first spouse’s nationality. Nationality of the second spouse: Country of the second spouse’s nationality. Occupation of the first spouse: Occupation, function or main craft of the first spouse. Occupation of the second spouse: Occupation, function or main craft of the second spouse. Professional status of the first spouse: Professional situation of the first spouse (manager / self-employed / employee / worker / helper / without / unknown). Professional status of the second spouse: Professional situation of the second spouse (manager / self-employed / employee / worker / helper / without / unknown). Municipality of divorce: Municipality of the divorce registration, i.e. the municipality where the marriage was contracted or the city of Brussels for marriages contracted abroad. Age of the first spouse at divorce: Age of the first spouse at divorce, expressed in completed years, calculated as the difference between the date of the divorce registration and the date of birth. Age of the second spouse at divorce: Age of the second spouse at divorce, expressed in completed years, calculated as the difference between the date of the divorce registration and the date of birth. Month of divorce: Month of divorce, from the date of the divorce registration in the civil register of the municipality. Remarks In the framework of the administrative simplification and in application of the Law of 5 May 2014 on the establishment of the principle of the unique data collection (Only Once), the Directorate-General Statistics – Statistics Belgium decided in 2015 to no longer use the bulletins of the FPS Home Affairs to produce statistics on marriages and divorces, but to use data from the National Register (RNPP) for this purpose. As a result of this source change, the marriage and divorce forms could be abolished (Royal Decree of 19 February 2016). But it also brought about important changes in the statistic produced: Registration of the gender of spouses, allowing a distinction to be made between types of marriages and divorces; Processing in a statistic in law of the events that took place abroad concerning persons residing in Belgium; The identification of divorces that have been granted and registered in Belgium and that put an end to the marriages that have been contracted abroad gives a better approach to divorces. 2016 is the first year in which the RNPP is the exclusive source of the statistic. But using the RNPP also makes it possible to produce comprehensive statistics for 2015, as well as a large number of data for 2014, which makes a comparison with previous statistics on civil status possible. In the case of divorces, the use of the RNPP makes it possible to identify those divorces that put an end to a marriage that was contracted abroad. The large majority of these marriages are registered in Brussels-Capital. In 2016, 3,666 divorces were granted in Belgium or abroad (15.5 % of the total), which put an end to the same number of marriages contracted abroad. They are therefore included in the calculation of the gross divorce rate, which has fallen slightly (2.1 ‰, for 2.2 ‰ in 2015); but they are excluded from the calculation of the total divorce rate. Metadata Divorces.pdf

The total net migration is the difference between the population of 1 January and that of 31 December minus the natural balance (birth minus deaths) related to the average total population of the year (sum, divided by 2, of the population on 1 January and that on 31 December of the year). In addition, it is interesting to distinguish between the internal balance (movements within Belgium) and the external balance (movements to or from abroad). Note: the statistical adjustment shall be taken into account in the calculation of the overall indicator.