Belgium - Executive summary

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EUMAP: EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program > Topics > Minority Protection > Reports > Muslims in EU Cities (ongoing) > Background research reports > Download the reports! > Belgium > Belgium - Executive summary

Belgium - Executive summary

BACKGROUND RESEARCH REPORT

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Executive summary

The Muslim population in Belgium is estimated at around 500,000 people, or approximately 5 per cent of the total population (10.4 million). Over half of Muslims in Belgium (55 per cent) are naturalised Belgian citizens — the number of naturalisations has been increasing for the last two decades, as access to Belgian citizenship has been facilitated. A further 37 per cent are nationals of predominantly Muslim countries, while 10-15,000 are Belgian-born converts. The remainder are children from Muslim families who acquired Belgian nationality on birth.

People with a Moroccan background (hereafter ‘Moroccans’) and a Turkish background (hereafter ‘Turks’) are the two predominant ethnic groups within the Belgian Muslim population. Together, they represent some 88 per cent of the Muslims who are naturalised citizens, and 67 per cent of the nationals from predominantly Muslim countries. Research about Muslims in Belgium has focused on these two groups, and this report will also reflect this trend.

Muslims mainly arrived in Belgium as economic migrants. The first inflow into Belgium of workers originating from Muslim countries can be traced back to the 1910s, in the wake of French colonisation of the Maghreb. Later, in the 1960s, Belgium concluded bilateral labour agreements with Morocco and Turkey (1964), Tunisia (1969) and Algeria (1970) to address the shortage of low-skilled workers in the country. These workers were concentrated mainly in the coal and steel industries, and the construction sector. Although the Belgian authorities declared a halt to the waves of migration in 1974, the immigration flow remained stable while the number of Muslims increased, as families started reuniting in Belgium and single men were getting married for the first time.

Muslims also arrived in Belgium as students, who chose to settle in Belgium — particularly Moroccans attracted by the French language education system. More recently, a smaller number of Muslims have arrived as asylum seekers, or remained as illegal residents.

Muslims are concentrated in the urban centres of Brussels and Antwerp, which are situated next to the former mining and industrial regions, and are distributed more or less evenly between the north and the south of the country. Moroccans are found mainly in Frenchspeaking areas of Belgium (Wallonia), in the south, as well as in the (bilingual) capital, Brussels (over 50 per cent of Moroccans). Half of the Turks live in the Flemish part of Belgium (Ghent and Antwerp), while a quarter live in Brussels (in particular Saint-Josse and Schaerbeek districts), and a quarter can be found in Wallonia.

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