The Kingdom of Belgium (Dutch: Koninkrijk België; French: Royaume de Belgique; German: Königreich Belgien) is a country in northwest Europe bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France and is one of the founding and core members of the European Union. Belgium has a population of over ten million people, in an area of around 30,000 square kilometres (11,700 square miles), mostly Flemish (over 6 million), a large minority of French-speakers (4 million, 3/4 of them are Walloons) and a small German-speaking group. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Romance Europe, it is linguistically divided. Two major languages are spoken in Belgium: Dutch is mainly spoken in Flanders to the north, while French in Wallonia in the south. The capital, Brussels, is officially bilingual, while the majority of its residents speak French and an officially-recognized German-speaking minority is present, in the east of the country. This linguistic diversity often leads to political and cultural conflict and is reflected in Belgium's complex system of government and political history.

Belgium derives its name from the Latin name of the most northern part of Gaul, Gallia Belgica, named after a group of mostly Celtic tribes, Belgae. Historically, Belgium has been a part of the Low Countries, which also include the Netherlands and Luxembourg and were covering a somewhat larger region than the current Benelux group of states. From the end of the Middle Ages until the seventeenth century, it was a prosperous center of commerce and culture. From the sixteenth century until the Belgian revolution in 1830, Belgium, at that time called the Southern Netherlands, was the site of many battles between the European powers, and has been dubbed "the cockpit of Europe."[1] More recently, Belgium was a founding member of the European Union, hosting its headquarters, as well as those of many other major international organizations, such as NATO.

1. Danish: Belgien
2. Dutch: België, Koninkrijk België (formal)
3. English: Kingdom of Belgium (formal)
4. Finnish: Belgia
5. French: Belgique, Royaume m de Belgique f (formal)
6. German: Belgien n
7. Icelandic: Belgía
8. Italian: Belgio m
9. Norwegian: Belgia, Kongeriket Belgia (formal)
10. Portuguese: Bélgica, Reino m da Bélgica f (formal)
11. Spanish: Bélgica, Reino m de Bélgica f (formal)
12. Swedish: Belgien
13. Turkish: Belçika, Belçika Krallığı (formal)