The Flemings speak Dutch (often referred to by its historic regional name, Flemish), and the Walloons speak French. The predominantly Flemish provinces are in the northern half of Belgium, called Flanders, and the predominantly Walloon provinces are in the southern half, called Wallonia. The capital of Brussels, an enclave within the Flanders region, is mixed. In 1993 these three ethnolinguistic areas became official federal regions.

Friction between Flemings and Walloons has been a stubborn social and political problem since Belgium gained independence in 1830. French became the official language of government after the Revolution of 1830, which was directed against Netherlands.

In the following decades Belgian cultural life was influenced mainly by France. But this dominance, along with Walloon social and economic domination, aroused a spirit of nationalism among the Flemings. They agitated for the equality of their language with French. A series of laws in the 1920s and 1930s achieved this goal.

Antagonism between the two groups increased after World War II (1939-1945). The Belgian constitution was revised in 1971 and 1980 to provide Flemings with a greater degree of cultural and political autonomy. Today, Flemings continue to outnumber Walloons in Belgium.

Antwerp in Belgium. Encarta

The population of Belgium is 10,414,336 (2009 estimate). Nearly 60 percent live in the Flanders region. The overall population density, one of the highest in Europe, is 344 persons per sq km (891 per sq mi). The largest concentrations were in the Brussels, Antwerp, Liège, and Ghent (Gent) industrial areas, as well as in the narrow industrial region between Mons and Charleroi. In recent decades the Limbourg city region has increased in population because of industrial expansion in that area. Almost 10 percent of all Belgians live in Brussels, which is also home to vast numbers of foreign guest workers. Some 97 percent of the population is classified as urban. Encarta