Demographics of Belgium - Ethnic Groups

Ethnic Groups

The country is populated by a Flemish majority of about 6,000,000 people speaking Dutch, a Walloon minority of 3,400,000 people speaking French, and about 73,000 German speaking people in Wallonia, near the German border. However, David Levinson reports that "the Flemish and Walloon groups are described by experts as "communities" rather than as ethnic groups, and individuals can move easily from one community to the other by learning to speak the other language".

The rest consists mostly of French-speaking people from Brussels, Italians, Dutch, French, Spaniards, Moroccans, Algerians, Turks, Congolese, Poles, and Indians. (Around 23% of Belgium's population is of non-Belgian origin)

The exact number of French-speakers in Brussels is hard to determine, but it is estimated that 77% of the people living in Brussels use French and 16% use Dutch in their households, as the sole language or secondary language. See the Brussels article for more details.

Read more about this topic:  Demographics Of Belgium

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