Belgium
Belgium (officially Kingdom of Belgium) is a country in Western Europe, with its capital at Brussels, and is home to roughly 11.9M people.
Its official languages are German, French, Dutch; the currency in circulation is Euro (€); people from here are called Belgian.
- »Belgium once went 589 days without an elected government, a peacetime record.
- »It is split between Dutch-speaking Flanders, French-speaking Wallonia and a small German-speaking community.
Belgium touches four neighbours: France to the south, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast and Netherlands to the north. Directions run from one centre to the other.
Brussels is officially bilingual in French and Dutch, and hosts the European Commission and NATO, which makes it a national capital and something close to a continental one.
30,536 km² (11,790 sq mi), 138th largest of 198 countries and territories on file, almost exactly the size of Lesotho.
Population 11,858,610, 82nd of 198 on file. That averages 388 per km² (1,006 per sq mi).
Black, yellow and red come from the arms of the Duchy of Brabant. It is one of the few national flags that is taller in proportion than the usual 2:3, officially 13:15.