The Brief:The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and France, with a short coastline on the North Sea. It is one of the founding members of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO. Belgium has a population of over ten-and-a-half million people, in an area of around 30,000 square kilometres (11,700 square miles).
Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium's two largest regions are Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north, with 58% of the population, and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia, inhabited by 32%. The B..