Brussels-Capital Region
From Freepedia
- This article explains the status of the "Brussels-Capital Region". The main article about Brussels is here.
| |||||
| City nickname: "N/A" | |||||
| Location | |||||
| Image:BelgiumBrussels.png Location in Belgium | |||||
| Government | |||||
| Municipalities | Anderlecht,
Bruxelles - Brussel, Ixelles - Elsene, Etterbeek, Evere, Ganshoren, Jette, Koekelberg, Auderghem - Oudergem, Schaerbeek - Schaarbeek, Berchem-Sainte-Agathe - Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Saint-Gilles - Sint-Gillis, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean - Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode - Sint-Joost-ten-Node, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert - Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre - Sint-Pieters-Woluwe, Uccle - Ukkel, Forest - Vorst, Watermael-Boitsfort - Watermaal-Bosvoorde | ||||
| Minister-President | Charles Picqué | ||||
| Physical characteristics | |||||
| Area Land Water | 161.382 km² N/A km² N/A km² | ||||
| Population Total (2005) Density | N/A (metropolitan area) 1,006,749 6,238.29/km² | ||||
| Latitude | 50° 51' N | ||||
| Longitude | 4° 21' E | ||||
| Time zone Summer (DST) | CET (UTC+1) CET (UTC+2) | ||||
| Official website: Brussels Capital-Region official web site | |||||
The Brussels-Capital Region (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, German: Region Brüssel-Hauptstadt) or Brussels Region (French: Région Bruxelloise, Dutch: Brusselse Gewest) is one of the three regions of Belgium. Brussels citizens belonging to the French-speaking French Community of Belgium or to the Flemish Community, or often to one of the many communities of migrant and EU-nationals. Both French and Dutch are official languages in Brussels; all public services are bilingual. French is more commonly spoken by residents.
Contents |
History
The Region was created in 1989.
Demographics
On January 1, 2005, the region had a population of 1,006,749 for 161.382 km² which gives a population density of 6,238.29 inhabitants per km².
| Population by national origin at the 1st March 1991 (last census ever organized in Belgium) | ||
| Belgians born in Belgium (and Belgian-born) | 607,446 | 63.7% |
| Belgians born abroad (and Belgian-born) including: Congo, Rwanda and Burundi (former Belgian overseas territories) | 21,028 8,116 | 2,2% (100%) 38.6% |
| Naturalized migrants (not born in Belgium, not Belgian-born) including: France Morocco | 36,938 6,348 3,022 | 3.9% (100%) 17.2% 8.2% |
| Naturalized 1st and 2nd generations (born in Belgium, not Belgian-born) including: France Morocco | 17,045 2,757 2,522 | 1.8% (100%) 16.2% 14.8% |
| Non-naturalized 1st and 2nd generations including: Morocco | 87,987 37,300 | 9.2% (100%) 42.4% |
| Old migrants (born abroad, foreign nationals, living in Belgium in 1986) including: Morocco Italy | 123,411 35,138 16,027 | 12.9% (100%) 28.5% 13% |
| Recent migrants (born abroad, foreign nationals, arrived in Belgium after 1986) including: France Morocco | 60,185 8,513 4,970 | 6.3% (100%) 14.1% 8.3% |
| Total Brussels-Capital Region | 954,040 | 100% |
source of data in the above table: T. Eggerickx et al., De allochtone bevolking in België, Algemene Volks- en Woningtelling op 1 maart 1991, Monografie nr. 3, 1999, Nationaal Instituut voor de Statistiek
At the last Belgian census in 1991, there were 63.7% inhabitants in Brussels-Capital Region who answered they were Belgian citizens, born as such in Belgium. However, there have been numerous individual or familial migrations towards Brussels since the end of the XVIIIth century, including political refugees (Karl Marx, Victor Hugo, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Léon Daudet e.g.) from neighbouring or more distanced countries as well as labour migrants, former foreign students or expats, and many Belgian families in Brussels can tell at least a foreign grandparent.
There is a Flemish minority in the Region (estimated by some at 15 to 18% of Belgian nationals in Brussels), but the dominant language is French and the ethnic and national self-identification of French-Speaking Bruxellois can vary from Belgian, Francophone Belgian, Bruxellois (like the Memeller in interwar ethnic censuses in Memel), Walloon (for people who migrated from the Wallonia Region at an adult age), but also all the national origins: people tend to call themselves Moroccans or Turks rather than an American-style hyphenated version.
The migrant communities, as well as rapidly growing communities of EU-nationals from other EU-member states, speak Moroccan dialectal Arabic, Turkish, Spanish (most Spaniards came from the Asturias, a minority from Andalusia and some from Catalonia and the Basque country), Italian, Polish, Rif Berber, English and other languages, including those of every EU-member state in the expat communities. The degree of linguistic integration varies widely within each migrant group.
Among all major migrants groups from outside the EU, a majority of the permanent residents have acquired the Belgian nationality. Since the 2000 Nationality Law, knowledge (even basic) of a Belgian national language is no longer compulsory and there are thus e.g. Belgian Turks who can't speak or understand French or Dutch.
Although historically (since the Counter-Reformation persecution and expulsion of Protestants by the Spaniards in the XVIthe century) Roman Catholic, most people in Brussels are non-practicing. About 10% of the population regularly attends church services. Among the religions, Roman Catholicism is in the majority, followed by a large minority of Muslims and by atheists, agnosticists and other Humanists which are also recognised as a philosophical group, Laïcité-Vrijzin (an apporoxime translation would be secularists), of which Brussels houses several key organisations. Other (recognised) religions (Protestantism, Anglicanism, Orthodoxy and Judaism) are practised by much smaller groups in Brussels. recognized religions and Laïcité enjoy public funding and school courses: every pupil in an official school from 6 years old to 18 must choose 2 hours per week of compulsory religion- or Laïcité-inspired morals.
Institutions
Because of how the federalisation was handled in Belgium, the public institutions in Brussels offer a bewildering complexity. One distinguishes:
- a regional parliament of 89 members, plus a regional government
- 19 local, municipal authorities with a 600-odd municipal councillors
- 6 inter-municipal policing zones
- 1 territorial administration level for the region; this administration level also assumes 99% of the responsibilities of the region;
- 2 community-specific public authorities, VGC or Vlaamse GemeenschapsCommissie for the Flemings in Brussels, and the COCOF (or Commission communautaire française); these authorities have both directly elected councils, an executive and their own administration; the COCOF has also certain legislative powers;
- 1 bi-communitarian public authority, Gezamelijke Gemeenschapscommissie, in charge of certain cultural institutions of 'national, Belgian interest'; this body is basically a meeting forum between COCOF and VGC.
Cultural, education and community-related public matters are the competence of either the French Community of Belgium or the Flemish Community, or, for a few matters, from a bi-community cooperation.
See also
- Brussels (e.g. for knowing the history and linguistic history of Brussels, or for more external links)
- The City of Brussels
- Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region
- Flanders
- French Community of Belgium
External links
- Brussels Capital-Region official web site
- The Brussels Entreprise Agency
- Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Brussels (French: Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Bruxelles or CCIB, Dutch: Kamer voor Handel en Nijverheid van Brussel or KHNB)
- bruessel-gui.de - Images: Brussels & Belgium
| Communities, regions and provinces of Belgium | Image:Belgium flag large.png |
|---|---|
|
Communities: French Community of Belgium | Flemish Community in Belgium | German-speaking community of Belgium | |
|
Regions and provinces: | |
| Flanders: Antwerp | East Flanders | Flemish Brabant | Limburg | West Flanders | |
|
Wallonia: Hainaut | Liège | Luxembourg | Namur | Walloon Brabant | |
|
Brussels-Capital Region | |
