BRUSSELS FACT SHEET

Belgium Flag :

Brussels Flag :

 GEOGRAPHY

 Population (1995) City and region : 948,122

 Surface : 63 square miles (162 square km) - (0.5% of Belgium's surface area)

Official Language : Dutch and French , Brussels to Flemish and French community.

 Largest Belgium city : Situated on the Senne river. 19 municipalities or communes (Brussel-stad , Schaarbeek , Etterbeek , Ixelles-Elsene Sint-Gillis , Anderlecht , Molenbeek Sint Jans , Koekelberg , Berchem-Saint-Agathe ,Ganshoren, Jette, Evere , Woluwe-Sint-Pieters Oudergem, Watermaal-Bosvoorde , Ukkel , Vorst Woluwe Sint-Lambrechts , Sint-Joost-ten-Node) 135,681 inhabitants in the commune of Brussels-Stad

 Climate: The climate over Brussels is unpredictable , one you may have sun and the next day , you can cloud and rain. Brussels' temperature averages around 19 F/4 C in January and 70 F/21 C in July. March is usually the most rainy month. From April to October the weather is pleasant.

 Economy and Politics

 Most important Economic Sectors : administrative (European Commission, Council of the European Union, Economic and Social Committee ,Council of the regions , NATO headquarter , Belgium parliament ), financial , cultural, commercial, and industrial. The biggest sector is trade . There is a lot of office jobs - 21.9% blue collar workers in the Brussels economy represent 122,694 jobs on the 626.635 (1996).

 Around 2000 foreign companies to Brussels, including 1400 American companies and over 1000 international associations. This include Toyota, Volkswagen , Sony , Microsoft , IBM , Oracle , Cisco system, Deutch bank and much more. Other than the European institution, there are 159 embassies and 2,500 diplomats. Brussels is the second diplomatic city in the world. Contrary to many other countries voting during election is mandatory. There are many Belgium parties French, Dutch, from many trend right , left , far right . The MR is the most powerful party in Brussels. Belgium is a constitutional monarchy. The Kingdom of Belgium was established in 1830. In 1993, Belgium became a federal state comprising three autonomous regions.