Flemish Region
The Flemish Region, known in Dutch as the Vlaams Gewest, constitutes the northern, predominantly Dutch-speaking territory of Belgium, encompassing five provinces—Antwerp, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg, and West Flanders—and covering an area of 13,522 square kilometers with a population of approximately 6.8 million as of 2024.[1][2] This region accounts for about 58% of Belgium's total population despite comprising only 45% of its land area, reflecting its high population density of over 500 inhabitants per square kilometer.[3] Established as one of Belgium's three federal regions through the country's progressive federalization starting in the 1970s, the Flemish Region exercises substantial autonomy over policy domains including economic development, environmental protection, agriculture, transport infrastructure, and spatial planning, distinct from the cultural and educational competencies largely handled by the overlapping Flemish Community.[4] Economically, the Flemish Region stands as Belgium's primary growth engine, generating a gross domestic product of 356 billion euros in 2023 with a per capita figure of 52,257 euros—surpassing the national average and underscoring its productivity in export-oriented sectors such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food processing, metallurgy, and logistics, bolstered by the Port of Antwerp as Europe's second-largest harbor.[5][6][7] Services dominate its economy, contributing over 70% to GDP, yet industrial strengths in high-value manufacturing drive innovation and international trade, positioning Flanders among Europe's most competitive subnational economies.[8] The region's prosperity has fueled political debates over fiscal federalism, as empirical data reveal net transfers from Flanders to the less economically dynamic Walloon Region, informing advocacy by Flemish parties for enhanced autonomy or confederal arrangements to align resource allocation with regional contributions.[9] Despite these tensions, the Flemish Region maintains a stable governance structure under the Flemish Government and Parliament, headquartered in Brussels, while preserving cultural ties to Dutch linguistic and historical heritage.History
Origins and Medieval Development
The territory of the modern Flemish Region traces its historical roots to the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, where by the 1st century BC it was inhabited by Belgic tribes of mixed Celtic and Germanic descent, including the Menapii along the coastal dunes and the Scheldt River, with Roman infrastructure like roads and vici (small settlements) facilitating early trade and agriculture.[10] After the Roman withdrawal around 400 AD, Frankish tribes—Germanic speakers from the east—migrated into the region, integrating with remnant Gallo-Roman populations under Merovingian rule by the 6th century; this Salian Frankish settlement established the linguistic substrate for Old Dutch (or Diets), as the vernacular evolved distinctly from the Romance languages south of the linguistic frontier, driven by ongoing Germanic influx and isolation from Latin ecclesiastical dominance.[10] By the Carolingian era in the 8th-9th centuries, the area organized into the pagus Flandrensis, a coastal gau administered by local counts under imperial oversight, which transitioned to hereditary rule in 862 when Baldwin I "Iron Arm," a Frankish noble, married Judith, daughter of West Frankish King Charles the Bald, securing the county's autonomy amid Viking raids and feudal fragmentation.[11] Baldwin's dynasty expanded the County of Flanders through alliances and reclamation of polders, reaching from the Scheldt estuary to the Strait of Dover by circa 928 under Arnulf I, who fortified borders against Norman incursions and promoted dike-building, enabling arable farming on reclaimed marshes and fostering proto-urban centers like Bruges and Ghent as countly strongholds. From the 12th century, Flemish territories experienced economic ascent via the cloth trade, with Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres specializing in woolen textile production; English wool imports, processed through fulling mills and dye works, yielded luxury drapery exported southward, generating wealth that by 1200 supported guild-based urban charters and populations exceeding 50,000 in Ghent alone.[12] Bruges emerged as a nexus for overland and maritime commerce, hosting Italian bankers and Hanseatic merchants who, from the late 13th century, maintained a kontor there to exchange Baltic furs, timber, and herring for Flemish cloth, amplifying regional prosperity amid the Champagne fairs' decline.[13] This urban affluence bred conflicts over taxation and serfdom, pitting cloth guilds against French suzerainty; on July 11, 1302, at Courtrai, approximately 9,000-13,000 Flemish militiamen—armed with goedendags (spiked polearms) and crossbows under burgher leaders like Jacob van Artevelde's forebears—ambushed and routed a 2,500-strong French knightly force under Robert II, Count of Artois, killing or capturing up to 1,300 nobles whose golden spurs were ritually collected as trophies, decisively curbing Capetian centralization and affirming communal self-governance in Flanders.[14]Early Modern Period and Austrian Netherlands
The principalities comprising modern Flanders were gradually incorporated into the Burgundian State during the 15th century, starting with Philip the Bold's acquisition of the County of Flanders in 1384 through marriage to Margaret of Dampierre, and expanding significantly under his grandson Philip the Good (r. 1419–1467), who by mid-century controlled Flanders, Artois, Brabant, Namur, Holland, and Hainaut, fostering economic interdependence via textile exports and court patronage centered in cities like Ghent and Brussels.[15][16] Following the death of Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, his daughter Mary of Burgundy's marriage to Maximilian I of Habsburg in 1477 secured the inheritance; upon Mary's death in 1482, Maximilian assumed control of the Burgundian Netherlands, initiating Habsburg rule over the Low Countries and laying foundations for administrative coordination among the fragmented provinces.[17] Under Spanish Habsburg governance after Philip II's inheritance in 1556, the southern Netherlands, including Flanders, experienced religious upheaval amid the Reformation, with Calvinist doctrines gaining traction in urban centers like Antwerp and Ghent due to economic grievances and anti-clerical sentiment; this culminated in the Iconoclastic Fury of August–September 1566, when Protestant mobs destroyed Catholic altarpieces, statues, and liturgical objects in over 400 churches, reflecting widespread Calvinist iconoclasm against perceived idolatry.[18][19] Spanish reprisals under the Duke of Alba's Council of Troubles (1567–1573) executed thousands, reconquering the south by 1585 and suppressing Protestantism, which preserved Catholic dominance in Flanders while prompting the exodus of approximately 100,000 skilled Calvinist artisans and merchants northward, accelerating economic polarization.[20] Economically, the Flemish territories shifted from medieval textile dominance—centered on wool cloth in Ghent and Bruges, which faced competition from English and Italian producers by the early 16th century—to Antwerp's brief ascendancy as Europe's premier entrepôt from circa 1500 to 1566, handling up to 40% of global spice trade and pioneering sugar refining and stock exchanges under Habsburg stability.[21] The 1576 Spanish Fury sack and 1585 fall of Antwerp severed Scheldt River access via Dutch blockades, redirecting trade to Amsterdam and causing Flemish industry's contraction, with GDP per capita stagnating relative to the north; proto-industrial linen production and agriculture emerged as staples, though hampered by warfare and emigration until the 18th century.[22] The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) transferred the Spanish Netherlands to Austrian Habsburg control via the Treaty of Rastatt in 1714, designating them the Austrian Netherlands; Maria Theresa (r. 1740–1780) pursued modest administrative rationalization, including fiscal surveys and military conscription, but preserved provincial estates' autonomy amid fiscal strains from European conflicts.[23] Her son Joseph II (r. 1780–1790) intensified Enlightenment-inspired centralization from Vienna, abolishing barriers to internal trade in 1781, imposing German as an administrative language, and curtailing clerical privileges, which provoked localist backlash from nobility and clergy valuing Joyeuse Entrée charters; this resistance erupted in the Brabantine Revolution of 1789–1790, where Statists and Vonckists briefly established the United Belgian States before Austrian reconquest, underscoring persistent provincial particularism against imperial uniformity.[24][25]Independence, World Wars, and Post-War Era
The Belgian Revolution of 1830, sparked by unrest in Brussels on August 25 and rapidly spreading to Flemish cities like Antwerp and Ghent, resulted in the secession from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Belgium by 1831.[26] The new state's 1831 constitution created a unitary framework that privileged French as the language of administration, law, education, and elite discourse, marginalizing the Dutch-speaking Flemish majority despite their participation in the uprising.[27] This linguistic imbalance stemmed from the dominance of French-speaking liberals and clergy in revolutionary leadership, fostering early grievances among Flemings who faced barriers to social mobility without French proficiency.[28] During World War I, Flemish soldiers, comprising about 80% of the Belgian army on the Yser Front from October 1914 onward, endured command by French-speaking officers often lacking Dutch proficiency, exacerbating casualties and resentment amid static trench warfare that claimed over 50,000 Belgian lives.[29] This led to the Frontbeweging (Front Movement) in 1917, where soldiers petitioned for Dutch-language education and university instruction, viewing the war as a catalyst for linguistic equality rather than mere national defense.[30] A minority of "activists" collaborated with German occupiers, establishing Dutch-medium institutions in Ghent under promises of autonomy, though post-armistice trials in 1919 convicted over 1,000 for treason, highlighting the tension between Flemish identity and Belgian unity.[31] In World War II, the German invasion of May 10, 1940, prompted varied Flemish responses, with the Vlaams Nationaal Verbond (VNV, Flemish National League), founded in 1933 and polling 15% in 1939 elections, emerging as the primary collaborator by aligning with Nazi authorities for anticipated independence from Walloon influence.[32] VNV leader Hendrik Elias advocated authoritarian nationalism, enlisting around 10,000 Flemish volunteers into the Eastern Front's Flemish Legion by 1942, driven by anti-French sentiment and economic grievances rather than ideological affinity for National Socialism, though post-liberation purges executed or imprisoned thousands, including Elias.[33] Post-1945 reconstruction prioritized infrastructure amid Belgium's economic miracle, with Flemish regions leveraging port expansions to overtake Wallonia's industrial lead. Antwerp's Ten-Year Plan (1956–1965) added over 1,000 hectares of dockland, boosting throughput from 20 million tons in 1945 to 100 million by 1970 through modernization like the Bonaparte Dock.[34] Ghent's Terneuzen canal deepening and petrochemical zoning similarly industrialized its port, contributing to Flanders' GDP growth averaging 4% annually in the 1950s–1960s, surpassing Wallonia's coal-dependent decline and enabling Flemish per capita income to exceed the national average by the 1970s.[35][36]Federalization and Autonomy Gains (1970s–Present)
The process of federalization in Belgium began with the first state reform in 1970, which established cultural communities for Dutch-, French-, and German-speakers, granting the Flemish Cultural Council advisory powers over language and cultural matters amid growing linguistic tensions following decades of Flemish grievances over economic and political marginalization.[37] This reform responded to Flemish demands for autonomy, driven by the region's higher economic productivity—Flanders contributed approximately 60% of Belgium's GDP by the 1970s despite comprising half the population—and resentment over subsidizing Wallonia's declining industries.[38] The second state reform in 1980 expanded community competencies to include education and partial economic powers, while creating regional executives and councils for Flanders and Wallonia, allowing Flanders to develop its own policies on spatial planning and environmental issues separately from the Flemish Community's cultural focus.[39] By merging the Flemish Community and Region into unified institutions in 1980, Flanders achieved streamlined governance, contrasting with Wallonia's separation of community and regional bodies, which reflected Flanders' more cohesive linguistic territory excluding bilingual Brussels.[37] Subsequent reforms in 1988–1989 and 1993 formalized Belgium as a federal state, devolving further powers in areas like agriculture, fisheries, and foreign trade to the regions, with Flanders gaining control over 90% of its tax revenues by 1993 through fiscal federalism that addressed Flemish concerns over transfers to Wallonia exceeding €10 billion annually.[37] The 1993 constitution enabled direct election of regional parliaments, empowering Flemish institutions to legislate independently on competencies not reserved to the federal level. Later reforms in 2001 and 2014 transferred additional powers, including labor market policies and parts of health care, to regions, further entrenching Flemish autonomy as economic divergences widened—Flanders' GDP per capita reached €40,000 by 2020 compared to Wallonia's €32,000—fueling debates on confederalism, where sovereign regions handle most policies with a minimal federal core limited to defense and foreign affairs.[40] In the 2024 regional elections, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) secured 35 seats in the Flemish Parliament, leading a coalition with Vooruit and CD&V finalized on September 28, 2024, emphasizing innovation through R&D investments exceeding €1 billion annually and pragmatic energy strategies favoring nuclear extensions over rapid phase-outs to ensure supply security.[41] At the federal level, N-VA leader Bart De Wever assumed the premiership on February 3, 2025, as the first Flemish nationalist in the role, heading a center-right coalition that pledged a sixth state reform to devolve more powers amid ongoing tensions over fiscal equalization, where Flanders' net contributions totaled €20 billion from 2011–2020.[42] De Wever's government advanced confederalist ideas by prioritizing regional self-determination in policy areas like migration and welfare, reflecting N-VA's long-standing advocacy for a model reducing federal overlap to prevent deadlock.[43] These shifts underscore causal pressures from Flanders' superior growth rates—averaging 1.5% annually versus Wallonia's 0.8% post-2000—and cultural-linguistic homogeneity driving demands for greater sovereignty within the federation.[44]Geography and Environment
Territorial Extent and Borders
The Flemish Region covers a land area of 13,626 km², representing approximately 44% of Belgium's total land surface of 30,689 km².[45] It consists of the five northern provinces—Antwerp, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg, and West Flanders—positioned north of the fixed linguistic border established by law in 1963, which delineates the Dutch-speaking area from the French-speaking Walloon Region to the south.[46] The region's international boundary runs along 450 km shared with the Netherlands to the north and east, while its western edge includes a 67 km coastline on the North Sea, primarily within West Flanders province.[47] Domestically, the southern limit follows the linguistic border with Wallonia, interrupted by the Brussels-Capital Region, a 162 km² bilingual enclave fully embedded within the arrondissement of Halle-Vilvoorde in Flemish Brabant but administratively separate since its creation in 1989.[45] This enclave excludes Flemish regional competencies over territorial matters, though peripheral municipalities in Flemish Brabant maintain Dutch as the sole official language. The Flemish Region's boundaries differ from those of the Flemish Community, the latter encompassing personal and cultural competencies for Dutch-speakers nationwide, including facilities and services extended to the approximately 200,000 Dutch-speakers residing in Brussels without incorporating the capital's territory into the region's administrative scope.[39] These divisions reflect Belgium's federal structure, formalized in the 1993 constitutional reforms, which devolved territorial powers to regions while preserving community-level oversight for linguistically defined populations.[46]Physical Landscape and Natural Features
The Flemish Region is characterized by predominantly flat, low-lying alluvial plains, with average elevations between 25 and 90 meters above sea level, forming part of the broader coastal and interior lowlands of northwestern Europe.[48] These plains are primarily shaped by sedimentary deposits from ancient river systems, resulting in a terrain that is largely unsuited to rugged topography but extensively modified through centuries of drainage and embankment works.[49] Hydrologically, the region lies within the Scheldt River basin, which covers approximately 21,863 square kilometers across Belgium (61% of the basin), France, and the Netherlands, with the Flemish portion encompassing the upper and middle reaches of the Scheldt (Escaut) and its tributaries like the Leie (Lys) and Dender.[50] The Scheldt, measuring 360 kilometers in total length, flows through eastern Flanders before reaching its tidal estuary near Antwerp, where freshwater discharges interact with North Sea tides, influencing sediment dynamics and floodplain formation.[51] This river system has been heavily canalized for navigation and flood control, underscoring the anthropogenic overlay on the natural hydrology. The coastal zone along the North Sea features sandy dunes and polders—reclaimed lowlands below or near sea level, protected by dikes and pumps to prevent inundation—extending inland from areas like De Panne to the Dutch border.[52] Limited uplands provide contrast, notably Kemmel Hill (Kemmelberg) in southern West Flanders, a forested tertiary hill rising to 156 meters, the region's highest elevation, which overlooks surrounding plains and offers panoramic views shaped by glacial and erosional processes.[53] Fertile alluvial and loess-derived soils dominate the arable landscapes, enabling intensive agriculture across roughly 620,000 hectares of farmland, though sandy and silt compositions in coastal and interior zones require targeted management for productivity.[54]Climate, Resources, and Environmental Challenges
The Flemish Region features a temperate maritime climate influenced by the North Atlantic, with mild winters averaging around 3°C in January and cool summers reaching about 18°C in July. Precipitation is abundant and evenly distributed, averaging 750 to 1,000 mm annually, driven by frequent westerly fronts that bring cloudy conditions and occasional storms.[55][56][57] Natural resources within the region are scarce and primarily non-metallic, including sand, gravel, clay, and loam quarried for construction aggregates. Groundwater from aquifers such as the Brussels Sands supports much of the water supply, though extraction raises sustainability concerns amid urban pressures. Offshore in the Belgian North Sea along the Flemish coast, marine sand and gravel extraction yields 2 to 4 million cubic meters yearly for coastal nourishment and industry, while natural gas pipelines connect limited fields, contributing modestly to energy infrastructure despite declining domestic production.[58][59][60][61] Key environmental challenges stem from the low-lying polder landscape, where historical drainage of peat soils has induced subsidence rates of several millimeters per year in areas like the Scheldt alluvial plain, heightening vulnerability to sea-level rise. Intensive livestock and crop farming generates two-thirds of regional nitrogen losses, fueling eutrophication in waterways, soil acidification, and protected habitat degradation, with deposition exceeding critical loads by factors of 2 to 5 in many zones. Flood risks, amplified by heavier rainfall events under climate variability, materialized in the July 2021 deluges that inundated parts of West and East Flanders, causing infrastructure damage and prompting accelerated investments in the Sigma Plan—a 1977-initiated program reinforcing 500+ km of dikes, constructing controlled floodplains, and depolderering select areas to buffer storm surges and river overflows.[62][63][64][65][66]Government and Politics
Regional Institutions and Competencies
The Flemish Parliament is a unicameral legislature consisting of 124 members, with 118 directly elected from constituencies in the Flemish Region and 6 representing Dutch-speaking residents of the Brussels-Capital Region.[67] Members are elected for five-year terms via proportional representation, with elections held concurrently with those for other Belgian regional and community assemblies as well as the European Parliament; the most recent occurred on 9 June 2024.[68] The Parliament holds legislative authority to enact decrees, which function as primary legislation within its competencies, and it oversees the executive through committees, inquiries, and votes of confidence. The Flemish Government serves as the executive branch, comprising the Minister-President and up to eight additional ministers responsible for specific portfolios. Jan Jambon held the position of Minister-President from 2019 until the formation of a new coalition following the 2024 elections, after which Matthias Diependaele was sworn in on 30 September 2024.[69] The Government proposes decrees for parliamentary approval, implements policies, manages the regional budget, and represents Flanders in intergovernmental consultations, with decisions typically requiring consensus among ministers. As Belgium's federal system devolves powers distinctly to communities and regions, the Flemish institutions exercise unified authority over both the Flemish Community's "person-related" matters—such as culture, education, language use, youth policy, and sports—and the Flemish Region's "territory-related" domains, including economy, agriculture, environment, housing, public works, energy policy, mobility and transport, and spatial planning.[37] These competencies are exclusive, stemming from special acts in 1980, 1988, and 1993 that transferred them from the federal level without concurrent federal oversight in those areas, though fiscal powers remain partially shared, with regions setting rates and bases for taxes like inheritance and registration duties while relying on federal transfers for much of their revenue. Overlaps arise in hybrid fields like employment (partly regional via activation policies) and limited international cooperation, where federal treaties constrain regional actions, and defense, social security, and justice remain federal preserves. The 2024–2029 Flemish Government has prioritized enhancing competencies in education and innovation, with Minister of Education Zuhal Demir overseeing reforms such as mandatory minimum learning goals for preschoolers in vocabulary and listening skills, expanded anti-bullying inspections, and investments in "inspiration schools" to improve outcomes amid declining international rankings.[70] [71] In innovation, the coalition agreement commits to sustaining Flanders' European leadership through increased R&D funding targeting 5% of GDP and support for key institutions like IMEC and VIB, addressing challenges in economic valorization.[72] [73]Political Parties, Elections, and Governance
The Flemish Parliament is elected through a system of proportional representation across five provincial constituencies, utilizing open list voting with apparentement alliances allowing smaller lists to combine votes to surpass effective thresholds, typically around 5% per combined list to secure seats. Elections occur every five years concurrently with federal polls, as in the June 9, 2024, vote where turnout reached approximately 88%, reflecting Belgium's compulsory voting enforcement.[74][75] The 118-seat chamber allocates seats via the D'Hondt method, favoring larger parties and enabling fragmented yet stable majorities.[76] Dominant parties include the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), a nationalist-conservative force emphasizing economic liberalism and regional autonomy, which secured 24.2% of the vote and 27 seats in 2024, reinforcing its position as the largest group. The Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) party, rooted in social conservatism and family-oriented policies, obtained 13.3% and 19 seats, maintaining influence through centrist appeals. The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vld), advocating free-market reforms and individual freedoms, garnered 13.8% and 16 seats, contributing to right-leaning dynamics despite national setbacks. These parties' combined strength—over 50%—underpins coalitions prioritizing fiscal prudence over expansive redistribution.[75][76][77] Governance centers on the Flemish Government, led by a minister-president and policy-focused ministers, executing competencies in areas like economy, environment, and mobility. Post-2024, coalitions have emphasized welfare reforms linking benefits to labor activation, with measures to reduce long-term dependency through training incentives and eligibility tightening. Housing policies target affordability via expanded low-income credits and streamlined permitting to boost supply, addressing shortages amid population growth. Anti-bureaucracy initiatives, including digital simplification and regulatory cuts, aim to lower administrative burdens on businesses, with targets for 20% reduction in compliance costs by 2027.[77][78][79]Flemish Nationalism, Separatism, and Federal Tensions
The Flemish Movement originated in the mid-19th century as a cultural and linguistic campaign to elevate Dutch alongside French in public life, countering the dominance of French-speaking elites in administration, education, and justice under the newly independent Kingdom of Belgium.[80] Early milestones included the 1878 "Wivre Law" partially bilingualizing civil service and the 1883 equality in secondary education, though full parity remained elusive until the 20th century, transforming initial emancipation efforts into broader demands for territorial and political recognition.[81] By the late 20th century, this evolved into modern Flemish nationalism, emphasizing autonomy amid Belgium's 1993 federal reforms, which devolved powers but left lingering community vetoes and fiscal entanglements. Recent polls consistently show support for outright independence at 10% or less among Flemish voters, though sentiment for enhanced regional sovereignty or confederal arrangements often exceeds 40%, particularly during economic downturns or disputes over resource distribution.[82] These figures spike with grievances like migration pressures or perceived federal paralysis, as evidenced by heightened separatist rhetoric ahead of the 2024 elections.[83] The Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA) has positioned confederalism as its core proposal since 2001, advocating that Flanders and Wallonia independently manage most competencies—retaining taxes and policies while selectively pooling functions like defense— to resolve overlapping authorities and reduce federal gridlock.[84] In contrast, Vlaams Belang's more explicit secessionist platform propelled it to 13.9% of the Flemish vote in the June 9, 2024, federal elections, surpassing prior highs but falling short of first place, with subsequent exclusion from coalitions via the informal cordon sanitaire preserving establishment resistance to its inclusion.[85][86] Persistent federal tensions stem from structural asymmetries, where Flanders' per capita GDP—approximately €40,000 versus Wallonia's €32,000 in 2023—drives net transfers exceeding €11 billion annually to the latter, empirically linking higher Flemish productivity to subsidization of underperforming regions and incentivizing autonomy demands as a corrective to Belgium's veto-prone devolution model.[87] This dynamic has stalled broader reforms, such as pension or labor harmonization, amplifying calls for reconfiguration despite low outright separatist backing, as regional electorates prioritize efficiency over unity.[88]Administrative Divisions
Provinces and Their Functions
The Flemish Region is administratively divided into five provinces—Antwerp, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg, and West Flanders—each functioning as an intermediate layer between the regional government and the 300 municipalities. Provincial governance consists of a council of 36 to 72 members elected every six years by proportional representation, which elects a permanent deputation of four to six members to execute policies, alongside a governor appointed by the Flemish Government to represent the executive and ensure compliance with laws.[89] These bodies handle subsidiary competencies not assigned to other levels, including spatial planning implementation, environmental management, cultural facilities, youth and sports initiatives, social integration, and supervision of municipal finances and operations.[4] [90]| Province | Capital | Population (2023) | Area (km²) | Notable Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antwerp | Antwerp | 1,919,133 | 2,876 | Northern economic center, highest density |
| East Flanders | Ghent | ~1,570,000 | 3,007 | Eastern interior, includes Ghent |
| Flemish Brabant | Leuven | 1,188,079 | 2,106 | Surrounds Brussels periphery |
| Limburg | Hasselt | 898,619 | 2,422 | Eastern border with Netherlands |
| West Flanders | Bruges | ~1,235,000 | 3,197 | Coastal province, North Sea access |