ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN BELGIUM.
INtroduction:
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The Kingdom of Belgium is a country located northwestern Europe. It is classified as one of the smallest and most densely populated countries in Europe. Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830; before it was controlled by Germany during World Wars I and II. Belgium was governed as a single governmental power. However, In the 1980s and ’90s, there were efforts made to turn Belgium into a federal state in which powers are shared among the regions of Flanders, Wallonia, and the Brussels-Capital Region.
GEOGRAPHY & POPULATION
Geographically speaking, the country has a total of 1,297 km of land boundaries with neighbors; it is bounded by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, and France to the south.
Belgium also has some 66.5 km of shoreline on the North Sea.
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The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA, 2016) estimates the population of Belgium to be approximately 11,409,077 which placed it at number 78 in population among the 196 nations of the world. The median age in Belgium is 41.4 years. There are 0.96 males for every female in the country.
Most of the population are concentrated in the northern, two-thirds of the country; the southeast is more thinly populated. Statistically speaking, (The World Factbook, 2016) reports that approximately 97,6% of the population lives in urban areas, as it is clearly shown in the visual representation of the data. Therefore, Belgium is one of the highest population densities in the world.
Most of the population are concentrated in the northern, two-thirds of the country; the southeast is more thinly populated. Statistically speaking, (The World Factbook, 2016) reports that approximately 97,6% of the population lives in urban areas, as it is clearly shown in the visual representation of the data. Therefore, Belgium is one of the highest population densities in the world.
The ethnic and linguistic composition of Belgium.
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"Belgium is one of the few countries in the world that has no single national language"(Language Matters,n.d.). Belgium has been described as a heterogeneous country straddling the border between the Romance and Germanic language families. There are three linguistic groups in Belgium: Dutch, which is the most widely spoken language with 6.1 million native speakers. French, which is the native language of 4.3 million speakers. A small German-speaking population which is estimated by 75000 speakers. Brussels in the other hand is officially bilingual. All in all, Belgium is divided into three linguistic communities. statistically speaking, Dutch (official) represents 60%, French (official) represents 40%, German (official) by less than 1%.
BILAL KASAOUI, Spring .2017