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Country profile

Belgium

At a glance

  • Belgium has a population of about 11.9M; its total GDP of $725.5B ranks #22 of 168 countries with data.
  • Its surface area of 30,689 km² is about 15% of the world median of 198,330 km².
  • Poverty rate ($2.15/day) stands out most against the median: 0.1% — rank #130 of 153 countries with data.

Where Belgium stands

Population log axis

Population across 169 countries with data: Belgium at 11.9M, rank #81, world median 11.5M, logarithmic axis. Median 11.5M Belgium · 11.9M

GDP (total) log axis

GDP (total) across 168 countries with data: Belgium at $725.5B, rank #22, world median $80.7B, logarithmic axis. Median $80.7B Belgium · $725.5B

GDP per capita log axis

GDP per capita across 168 countries with data: Belgium at $60,750, rank #13, world median $6,834, logarithmic axis. Median $6,834 Belgium · $60,750

Life expectancy

Life expectancy across 169 countries with data: Belgium at 82.3 years, rank #19, world median 73.8 years. Median 73.8 years Belgium · 82.3 years

Every dot is one country with data — the highlighted dot is this country; the dashed line marks the world median. Wide-range metrics use a logarithmic axis (tagged) so the whole field stays readable.

Belgium: all 46 metrics vs the world median

Metric Value Trend Rank vs median
Population & land
Population 11.9M (2025) +16% #81 / 169 median 11.5M · 1.0×
Population growth 0.7% (2025) +56% #107 / 169 median 1.1% · 63%
Urban population share 87.7% (2025) +6% #23 / 169 median 63.8% · 1.4×
Population aged 65+ 21.0% (2025) +23% #21 / 169 median 7.4% · 2.8×
Fertility rate 1.4 (2024) −13% #132 / 169 median 2.1 · 69%
Birth rate 9.2‰ (2024) −16% #135 / 169 median 16.0‰ · 58%
Death rate 9.5‰ (2024) −7% #40 / 169 median 7.1‰ · 1.3×
Net migration 32K (2025) −19% #27 / 169 N/A
Surface area 30,689 km² (2023) #140 / 176 median 198,330 km² · 15%
Population density derived 389/km² (2025) +16% #12 / 169 median 75.5/km² · 5.2×
Economy
GDP (total) $725.5B (2025) +181% #22 / 168 median $80.7B · 9.0×
GDP per capita $60,750 (2025) +143% #13 / 168 median $6,834 · 8.9×
GNI per capita $59,500 (2025) +147% #14 / 168 median $6,350 · 9.4×
GDP growth (annual) 1.0% (2025) −42% #137 / 168 median 3.1% · 32%
Inflation rate 2.5% (2025) +50% #99 / 162 median 3.3% · 75%
Unemployment rate 5.9% (2025) −15% #73 / 168 median 5.1% · 1.1×
Gini index 26.8 (2023) −5% #140 / 153 median 35.3 · 76%
Poverty rate ($2.15/day) 0.1% (2023) −75% #130 / 153 median 2.5% · 4%
Trade & industry
Exports share of GDP 75.5% (2025) +7% #13 / 163 median 35.0% · 2.2×
Imports share of GDP 77.5% (2025) +19% #14 / 163 median 40.2% · 1.9×
Agriculture share of GDP 0.7% (2025) −29% #160 / 168 median 7.2% · 10%
Manufacturing share of GDP 11.2% (2025) −33% #83 / 165 median 11.2% · 1.0×
International tourist arrivals 2.6M (2020) −62% #52 / 162 median 1.1M · 2.3×
Tourism receipts $7.4B (2020) −2% #27 / 165 median $705M · 11×
Health & education
Life expectancy 82.3 years (2024) +5% #19 / 169 median 73.8 years · 1.1×
Infant mortality 3.1‰ (2024) −31% #144 / 166 median 13.1‰ · 24%
Under-five mortality 3.7‰ (2024) −33% #143 / 166 median 15.8‰ · 23%
DPT immunization 97.0% (2024) +2% #23 / 166 median 90.5% · 1.1×
Hospital beds 5.4 per 1,000 (2023) −17% #24 / 167 median 2.0 per 1,000 · 2.7×
Health spending share of GDP 10.8% (2023) +30% #13 / 165 median 6.5% · 1.7×
Secondary school enrollment 143.0% (2023) −9% #1 / 167 median 90.5% · 1.6×
Education spending share of GDP 6.3% (2022) +8% #19 / 165 median 4.1% · 1.5×
Society & living
Human Development Index 0.951 (2023) +6% #9 / 165 median 0.754 · 1.3×
Internet users 95.8% (2024) +107% #16 / 169 median 81.5% · 1.2×
Mobile subscriptions 103.9 per 100 (2024) +33% #110 / 169 median 116.4 per 100 · 89%
Fixed broadband 44.2 per 100 (2024) +461% #9 / 168 median 12.1 per 100 · 3.7×
Electricity access 100.0% (2024) +0% #9 / 169 median 99.9% · 1.0×
Environment & security
CO₂ emissions per capita 7.3 t (2024) −36% #27 / 165 median 2.6 t · 2.8×
CO₂ emissions (total) derived 86.6 Mt (2024) −27% #43 / 165 median 21.3 Mt · 4.1×
Renewable electricity share 23.5% (2021) +752% #100 / 169 median 34.1% · 69%
Renewable energy consumption 11.7% (2021) +588% #128 / 169 median 26.9% · 43%
Forest area 22.6% (2023) +2% #103 / 169 median 32.4% · 70%
Agricultural land 44.4% (2023) −3% #75 / 169 median 41.7% · 1.1×
Arable land 28.3% (2023) +3% #29 / 168 median 11.0% · 2.6×
PM2.5 exposure 8.4 µg/m³ (2023) −54% #148 / 168 median 19.8 µg/m³ · 43%
Military spending 1.3% (2024) +4% #102 / 157 median 1.8% · 71%

Ranks are value-descending and count only the countries that have data for that metric (#1 = highest value); N/A rows occupy no rank.

The median is the unweighted middle value across the countries with data (gold tick) — not a world average. Bars grow with the value: reaching the tick means matching the median, and a full bar means twice the median or more. The median value and this country's multiple are noted under each bar.

Belgium's true-shape outline

Belgium's border outline from Natural Earth 1:110m boundaries — total surface area 30,689 km².

Belgium head-to-head pages

Open Belgium in the interactive compare tool →

See Belgium's true size on the drag-and-drop map →

Measure the distance to Belgium →

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Data & method

Indicators: World Bank Open Data, 43 indicators — CC BY 4.0 © World Bank — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/; Surface area (sq. km) — CC BY 4.0 © World Bank — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/; Human Development Index — CC BY 3.0 IGO © United Nations Development Programme — https://hdr.undp.org/terms-use

Boundaries: Natural Earth 1:110m (public domain); surface areas are computed with an equal-area spherical formula (Chamberlin–Duquette).

Reference facts (capital, languages, currencies, subregion): mledoze/countries (ODbL).