ACOG - Belgium  - IBM

Geography

Location: Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between France and the Netherlands

Area:
total area: 30,510 sq km
land area: 30,230 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than Maryland

Land boundaries: total 1,385 km, France 620 km, Germany 167 km, Luxembourg 148 km, Netherlands 450 km

Coastline: 64 km


People

Population: 10,081,880 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 18% (female 875,079; male 919,939)
15-64 years: 66% (female 3,303,219; male 3,363,250)
65 years and over: 16% (female 969,966; male 650,427)

Population growth rate: 0.17% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 11.46 births/1,000 population

Death rate: 10.22 deaths/1,000 population

Net migration rate: 0.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population

Infant mortality rate: 7 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.21 years
male: 73.94 years
female: 80.67 years

Total fertility rate: 1.62 children born/woman

Ethnic divisions: Fleming 55%, Walloon 33%, mixed or other 12%

Religions: Roman Catholic 75%, Protestant or other 25%

Languages: Dutch 56%, French 32%, German 1%, legally bilingual 11% divided along ethnic lines

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1980 est.)
total population: 99%
male:
female:


Government

Names:
conventional long form: Kingdom of Belgium
conventional short form: Belgium

Type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: Brussels

Independence: 4 October 1830 (from the Netherlands)

Constitution: 7 February 1831, last revised 14 July 1993; parliament approved a constitutional package creating a federal state


Economy

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $181.5 billion

National product real growth rate: 2.3%

National product per capita: $18,040

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.5%

Unemployment rate: 14.1%

Electricity:
capacity: 14,040,000 kW
production: 66 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 6,334 kWh



Olympic Factoid
The Mother Nature was kind to Olympic athletes and spectators. The average high temperature during the Games was 89 degrees with an average low of 72 degrees. Highest temperature registered (20 July) - 99 degrees. Lowest high temperature registered is 79 degrees (28 July).