Belgium as an independent country was founded in 1830.

Kingdom of Belgium is the country on the west of Europe, member of EU, UN and NATO. It’s borders are: on the north – Netherlands, on the east – Germany, Luxembourg on the south-east and France on the North and west. It is washed by the North sea on the north-west.

Area – 30 528 km2;

Population – 11.4 mln people;

Religion – the dominant religion in Belgium is Roman Catholic churh. Among others the biggest are Anglican, Protestantism, Islam and Judaism.

Capital – Brussels (170.5 thousand people);

Official languages – French, Dutch, German;

Administrative subdivision. Belgium is federal country, sometimes called as double federation, due to division of the country into three regions (Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels capital region) and three communities (Flemish, Walloon and German-speaking).

Political structure. Belgium is constitutional monarchy (since the founding) and federal country (since 1980).

Head of state – King Philippe (since 21 July 2013);

Head of Government – Prime-minister Sophie Wilmès (since October 27, 2019);

Federal parliament consists of two chambers. Upper house – Senate (71), lower house –Chamber of representatives (150). Both chambers are elected through direct universal suffrage once in a four year period.

Judiciary system is organized in the form a pyramid, where the base are magistrate’s courts, located in each canton, and the top is the Supreme Court. Belgium is divided into judicial cantons and districts. Each district has the court of first instance, labor court and commercial court. There are five appeal courts as well (in Brussels, in Liege, in Mons, in Gent and in Antwerp) and a jury in each province. Among the Council of State and Court of Cassation there is also Court of Arbitration.

Economy. Belgium is highly developed industrial country with intensive industrial production and agriculture, well-developed transport infrastructure, big cities and ports of Europe and Globe significance, big industrial enterprises and plants. Almost 50% of its industrial and agricultural production goes to export. Belgium is one of the top world exporters of black and colored metals. It is in the list of world leaders in the field of chemical industry. The main sector of energy is atomic energy. There are 2 atomic electric stations in Belgium. The main trade partners are Germany, France and Netherlands.