Big surge in east Europeans in Belgium

http://www.flandersnews.be/cm/de.red...0410_nationals

Thu 10/04/08 - New Belgian Government figures show that Italians form
the largest group of foreign nationals living in our country. Poles
are the nationality that is growing fastest in Belgium at the moment.

Most foreign nationals hail from European Union nations.
(Belga)

Over 900,000 people are foreign nationals in Belgium. This is some 8.5
of the total population.

There are over 175,000 Italians in Belgium. Their share in the total
number of foreigners has fallen slightly.

French nationals make up the second largest group followed by people
from the Netherlands.

There are some 25,000 British nationals in Belgium, over 11,000
Americans.

Moroccans and Turks form the largest groups of non EU citizens in
Belgium.

There are some 80,000 Moroccan nationals and nearly 40,000 Turks.

The Congolese community (13,000) is Belgium's third largest group of
non EU nationals.

The figures dating from 2005 show a big surge in the number of
Romanians and Russians - up around 35%.
(Belga)
A shifting picture

In the 1990's some 9% of Belgium's population consisted of foreign
nationals.

Since 1995 the number of foreign nationals in Belgium has been falling
reaching a low of 8.21% in 2001.

Since then figures have once again been on the rise.

The decrease coincided with a relaxation of the procedure foreign
nations need to undergo in order to acquire Belgian nationality.

In addition the Belgian authorities encouraged foreign nationals
living here to apply for Belgian citizenship.

At the beginning of the new millennium Belgium also introduced an
amnesty for foreigners living here illegally.
Regional variations

The largest number of foreigners, 314,000, live in Flanders.

Brussels has the largest share of foreigners in the population as a
whole: 27%

In 2005 20,502 people applied for asylum here.

Belgium is the sixth most popular place to request asylum in the EU.
In the world as a whole Belgium ranks eighth.