Global Sourcebook for International Data Management
by Graham Rhind
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Belgium
Global Sourcebook | Index | Properties
| BELGIUM |
For supplementary information, see links to post office home pages here , to postal code pages here
and to other personal name and addressing issues pages here
.
Belgium - Country information
Local short name form
Official name
Area
Population
11 584 008 (2022 estimate) [1]
Capital
Currency
International telephone access code
ISO 3166 country codes
Car nationality plate code
Internet country code
GRC Country Code
Belgium - Number format
1.234,45
(where , indicates the decimal separator and . the thousands separator)
Belgium - Date and time formats
Note: This section last updated 29th March 2021
dd/mm/yyyy
The 24-hour clock notation is used.
14:32
Belgium - Languages
Belgium has three official languages, Dutch , French
and German
. Luxembourgeois
, a dialect of German, is spoken by about 14 900 in Luxembourg province near to the border of Luxembourg. The Dutch that Belgians speak is a distinctive dialect called Flemish, which is related to Dutch in a similar way as British English and American English are related. Communications can be made in the Dutch of The Netherlands, but are much better received if in Flemish. Belgians are very language sensitive - you must bear this in mind always when communicating to or within Belgium. The country has a federal structure, and the number of inhabitants in each area (1991) is as follows:
| Flemish-speaking area | 5 768 925 (57.8%) |
| French-speaking area (excluding German language area) | 3 189 711 (32.0%) |
| German-speaking area | 66 000 (0.7%) |
| Brussels | 954 045 (9.6%) |
Brussels is officially a bilingual Flemish-French area, but in fact approximately 80% of the population speak French, 20% Flemish. A large number of people, especially amongst the Flemish population of Brussels, are bilingual.
Personal names in Belgium
A law of 2013 will allow parents to give their children their mother’s surname or both the mother’s and the father’s surnames. Before this the children had to be given the father’s surname (with some exceptions allowed). This law does not apply retrospectively, all of the children within a family must have the same surnames and children with a double surname may pass only one of those names to their own children.
Belgian personal names often contain prepositions, especially ‘van de/van der/de la/du’ which mean, literally ‘of the’. Unlike The Netherlands, there is no rule for the capitalisation or writing of these prepositions. In the Flemish area, they are more often, though not exclusively, written with an upper case first letter. In some names these prepositions are written as one word with the rest of the surname, in others they are written as a separate word.
For Flemish speakers, the form of address which would be used on an address label is inappropriate for use within a letter.
Tables of names can be acquired: given names, surnames/family names
Belgium - Company names
In all three language areas, it is more correct, where the nature of a company is mentioned in its name, that this precedes the name of the company, thus:
Boulangerie Dupont Bakkerij Janssens Bäcker Schmidt
You will often, however, find these activity indications after the company name, thus:
Dupont, Boulangerie Dupont (Boulangerie) Janssens, Bakkerij Janssens (Bakkerij) Schmidt, Bäcker Schmidt (Bäcker)
Belgium - Company legal forms
Company type indications will sometimes be present in both French and Flemish versions within the same name, thus:
Janssens NV/SA
or
NV Janssens SA
The following company types may be found in Belgian company names:
Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm
Belgium - Addresses
Note: This section last updated 14th May 2020
Structure
Addresses will be written in French, Flemish or German, depending on the language of the region. In the bilingual regions, addresses may be written in either or both languages. Addresses should always be written in this format:
Recipient name Thoroughfare[ ]number postal code[ ]PLACE NAME
regardless of the language area. The order and format in which the thoroughfare name and thoroughfare type are written differ according to the language of the address. For example:
French-language region
Flemish-language region
German-language region
There should be nothing written or typed beneath the last line of the address.
Street address
In the Flemish areas, the thoroughfare type part of the address is suffixed to the rest of the street address without a space. An exception exists in the address ‘Steenweg op name of town’ or ‘Steenweg naar name of town’. For example:
Groenmolenstraat 5 Bergensesteenweg 7 Steenweg op Leuven 19
In the French language addresses, the thoroughfare type part of the street address is prefixed, with spaces between the words. For example:
rue Montfort 8 rue d’Arlon 98 avenue de la Gare 4
In the German-speaking areas, the general rule is that the thoroughfare type part of the address is suffixed to the rest of the address, as in the Flemish areas. For example:
Hauptstrasse 3
However, there are two important exceptions. If the thoroughfare name refers to the real name of a place (e.g. a town name, a castle name, a forest name, etc.) then there is a space between the thoroughfare name and the thoroughfare type. The second exception is where complete personal names are used. In these cases, each component of the name and each part of the street address string are separated with hyphens. Surnames only are not covered by this exception. Thus:
Lüticher Strasse 9 Ludwig-von-Beethoven-Strasse 15 Beethovenstrasse 11
In streets beginning with prepositions or some adjectives (‘Am’, ‘An’, ‘Alter’ etc.), the preposition is followed by a space, thus:
Alter Marktstrasse 3
In the French language regions, thoroughfare types should correctly begin with a lower case letter. In all three regions, prepositions like ‘de la’ and ‘op’ should also be written without a capital letter.
In bilingual areas, street addresses might be written with both the French thoroughfare type as a prefix and the Flemish thoroughfare type as a suffix. For example:
rue du Beethovenstraat 12
This is unnecessary, and one may be removed.
If the address has a box number, add this after the address so:
street name[ ]number[ - bus ]number (Flemish or German)
or
street name[ ]number[ - boîte ]number (French)
For example:
Bergstraat 15 - bus 19 rue d’Arlon 90 - boîte 23
The longest thoroughfare name is Burgemeester Charles Rotsaert de Hertainglaan in Maldegem
Building numbers containing ranges are divided using a hyphen:
4-8
Building numbers can be directly followed by a non-numeric sub-building indicator without a space:
21C
or by a numeric sub-building indicator divided by a slash:
28/3
Thoroughfare types
Below is a list of the most commonly occurring thoroughfare types, with the abbreviated form(s) which you are most likely to find in address databases:
| Flemish | Abbreviations |
| Allée | |
| Baan | Bn |
| Berg | Bg |
| Centrum | |
| Dal | |
| Dam | |
| Dijk | |
| Dreef | Dr |
| Dwarsstraat | |
| Dwarsweg | |
| Gracht | |
| Hof | |
| Kaai | |
| Kade | |
| Kanaal | |
| Laan | Ln |
| Lei | |
| Markt | Mkt |
| Park | Pk |
| Plantsoen | |
| Plein | Pl |
| Rui | |
| Singel | |
| Square | Sq |
| Steenweg | Stwg, Swg |
| Straat | Str |
| Straatweg | |
| Vaart | |
| Veld | |
| Vest | |
| Vliet | |
| Weg | |
| Wijk |
| French | Abbreviations |
| allée | |
| avenue | ave |
| boulevard | bd, bld |
| canal | |
| centre | |
| champ | |
| chaussée | ch, chee |
| chemin | |
| Clos | |
| Cour | |
| digue | |
| impasse | imp |
| marché | |
| mont/montagne | mt |
| Parc | |
| place | pl |
| Quai | |
| quartier | |
| route | rte |
| Route National | RN |
| Rue | r |
| square | sq |
| val/vallée |
| German | Abbreviations |
| Allee | |
| Berg | |
| Boulevard | Bd |
| Bruch | |
| Chaussee | Ch |
| Damm | |
| Gasse | |
| Hafen | |
| Hof | |
| Kamp | |
| Markt | |
| Platz | Pl |
| Ring | |
| Straße | Str |
| Ufer | |
| Wall | |
| Weg | |
| Weide |
Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm
Other elements commonly found in address databases
Flemish
NB: The following abbreviations are used: (n) = neuter; (g) = gendered and plural. Abbreviated forms are given in brackets.
| Flemish | English |
| het (sometimes ’t) (n), de (g) | the |
| een | a, an |
| en | and |
| tot | till, until, up to |
| voor | for |
| van | of, from |
| op, naar | to, towards |
| bij | near, by |
| aan | on (sea, for example), at |
| aan de (a/d) | on (a river) |
| op | on |
| in | in |
| tegenover | opposite |
| naast | next to |
| achter | behind |
| vóór | in front of |
| tussen | between |
| over | over |
| onder | under |
| met | with |
| nieuw (n) (nw.)/nieuwe (g) (nwe.) | new |
| oud (n)/oude (g) | old |
| kort (n) (K.)/korte (g) (Kte.) | short |
| lang (n) (L.)/lange (g) (Lge.) | long |
| groot (n) (G./Gt.)/grote (g) (G. or Gte.) | large |
| klein (n) (K./K1.)/kleine (g) (K. or Kle.) | small |
| noord | north |
| oost | east |
| zuid | south |
| west | west |
| sint (St.) | saint |
| Industriepark | industrial estate |
French
NB: The following abbreviations are used: (m) = masculine form; (f ) = feminine form; (pl) = plural form. Except where specified, the plural form of adjectives is the correctly gendered singular form followed by an ‘s’.
| French | English |
| le (m)/la (f)/les (pl) (NB: le and la are written 1’ before a vowel or an unaspirated h) | the |
| un (m)/une (f) | a, an |
| et | and |
| à/au (m)/à la (f)/aux (pl) | till, until, up to, to |
| pour | for |
| de (before a proper noun)/du (m)/de la, de 1’ (f)/des (pl) | of, from |
| a | at |
| près de | by, near to |
| sur | on (a river, the sea) |
| dans | in |
| en face de | opposite |
| à côté de | next to |
| derrière | behind |
| devant | in front |
| entre | between |
| avec | with |
| sous | under |
| lès (occurs only in place names) | near |
| nouveau (m)/nouvelle (f)/nouveaux (m.pl.)/nouvelles (f.pl.)/nouvel (m, before a vowel or unaspirated h) | new |
| vieux (m, pl)/vieille (f)/vielles(f.pl.)/vieil (m, before (f.pl.)/vieil (m, before a vowel or an unaspirated h) | old |
| court (m) (Ct.)/courte (f) (Cte.) | short |
| long (m) (Lg.)/longue (f) (Lgue.) | long |
| grand (m) (Gr./Grd.)/grande (f) (Gr./Grde.) | large |
| petit (m) (P./Pt.)/petite (f) (P./Pte.) | small |
| nord | north |
| est | east |
| sud | south |
| ouest | west |
| saint (m) (St.)/sainte (f) (Ste.) | saint |
| Parc Industriel, Zone d’Activités (Z.A.C.), Zone Industrielle (Z.I.), Zone Artisanale (Z.A.) | industrial estate |
German
NB: German grammar rules governing articles, prepositions and adjectives are complex, and there is no need to explain them here. It is only necessary to be able to recognize them when and where they occur in addresses. For this reason a list without further explanation is provided. As a very general rule of thumb, prepositions and adjectives may have one of the following endings added: nothing; -e; -er; -em; -en; or -es.
| German | English |
| der/die/das/den/dem/des | the |
| ein/eine/eines/einen/einem/einer | a, an |
| und | and |
| bis | till, until, up to |
| für | for |
| van | of, from |
| zu, zu der (zur), zu dem (sum), nach | to, towards |
| bei, bei der/den/dem (beim) | near, at |
| an, an der/den/dem (am) | at, by, towards |
| auf, auf der/den/dem | on |
| in, in der/den/dem (im) | in |
| gegenüber | opposite, facing |
| nächst, neben, neben der/dem/den | next to |
| hinter, hinter der/den/dem | behind |
| vor, vor der/den/dem | before, in front of |
| zwischen, zwischen der/den/dem | between, amongst |
| über, über der/den/dem | over, above, beyond |
| unter, unter der/dem/den | under, beneath, below |
| mit | with |
| neu/neue | new |
| alt/alte | old |
| kurz/kurze/kurzen/kurzer/kurzem/kurzes (K.) | short |
| lang/lange/langen/langer/langem/langes (L./Lge.) | long |
| gross/grosse/grosser/grosser/grossem/grosses (G.) | large |
| klein / kleine / kleinen /kleiner/kleinem/kleines (K./Kl./Kle.) | small |
| nord | north |
| ost | east |
| süd | south |
| west | west |
| sankt (St.) | saint |
| Industrieterrein, Industriegebiet | industrial estate |
A table containing information about the relevant position of elements within address blocks can be acquired
Belgium - Post office box
This is written as: Postbus (PB) in Flemish; Boîte Postale (BP) in French; and Postfach (PF) in German.
Belgium - Postal codes
All postal codes (Dutch=Postcode/French=Code Postal/German=Postleitzahl) in Belgium have 4 numbers, the first digit being a number between 1 and 9. Not all numbers between 1000 and 9999 have been utilized for postal codes. No postal codes currently exist beginning with the digits 57, 58 or 59. The boundaries of the postal code regions correspond with the boundaries of the municipalities before fusion of some municipalities took place in 1975 and 1982. Postal codes correspond well to language regions. Postal codes are written before, and on the same line as, the town, thus:
3000 LEUVEN
The municipality named should be that which applied prior to fusion in 1975 and 1982.
In the cases of certain cities a second part of the postal code, indicating a sorting office within the main postal code region is sometimes added after the town name. This is essential, especially in the case of post office boxes, as without it delivery will be impossible. For example:
1080 BRUXELLES 8
Regional language can be determined on the basis of postal codes as follows:
Flemish
1500-3999, 8000-9999
Note: Postal code areas 1547, 1640, 1780, 1950, 1970, 3717, 3790, 8587 and 9600 have facilities for French-speaking minorities.
French
1300-1499, 4000-4699,4800-5699, 6000-7999
Note: Postal code areas 7700, 7780, 7850 and 7880 have facilities for Flemish-speaking minorities. Postal code areas 4950 and 4960 have facilities for German-speaking minorities.
German
4700-4799
Note: All of the German-language areas of Belgium have facilities for French-speaking minorities.
Brussels (Bilingual French-Flemish)
1000-1299
This regions/postal code data can be acquired as a data file
Metadata containing postal code formatting rules, exceptions and regular expressions can be acquired
Belgium - Postal code format graphic
Belgium - Postal code format
Belgium - Postal code specifics
Belgium - Postal code regular expression
\A(1[0-9][0-9][0-9]|2[0-9][0-9][0-9]|3[0-9][0-9][0-9]|4[0-9][0-9][0-9]|5[0-6][0-9][0-9]|6[0-9][0-9][0-9]|7[0-9][0-9][0-9]|8[0-9][0-9][0-9]|9[0-9][0-9][0-9])\Z
Belgium - Postal code level of coverage
Belgium - Postal code map
Place names in Belgium
Note: This section last updated 3rd May 2015
Place names are usually written in the address in capital letters.
Many towns in Belgium have more than one name - one Flemish, one French or one German and one French. Belgians are extremely language sensitive, and it is important to use the correct town name.
Place names consisting of more than one word are hyphenated with the exception of place names written in German in the German language area, and places beginning with the words ‘LE’, ‘LA’, ‘DE’, ‘HET’, ‘’T’ and ‘’S’ where there is a space between this word and the next (other words in the same town name will be hyphenated). For example:
La Roche-en-Ardenne Le Roux ’s Gravenbrakel De Panne Sankt Vith Saint-Vith
The following lists give the corresponding settlement names in the various languages. The first list gives the French equivalent for Flemish-speaking settlements; the second gives the Flemish and German equivalents for French-speaking settlements; the third gives the French equivalents for German-speaking settlements; and the fourth gives the alternatives for bilingual settlements. Finally, a list of corresponding place names in other languages is given. Some of the names refer to bilingual municipalities, although in these municipalities one language is recognized as being dominant. A postal code following the autochthonal name indicates to which settlement the alternatives refer, when more than one settlement of the same name exists.
Name equivalents for Flemish-language settlements
Name equivalents for French-language settlements
Name equivalents for German-language settlements
| Postal code | German → French | For more information about this place: |
| 4770-4771 | Amel → Amblève |
Amel - Wikipedia |
| 4760-4761 | Büllingen → Bullange |
Büllingen - Wikipedia |
| 4750 | Bütgenbach → Butgenbach |
Bütgenbach - Wikipedia |
| 4780-4784 | Sankt Vith → Saint-Vith |
St. Vith - Wikipedia |
Name equivalents for Bilingual settlements
| Postal code | French | Flemish | For more information about this place: |
| 1000-1130 | Bruxelles | Brussel |
City of Brussels - Wikipedia |
Bilingual street sign in Brussels
Refer to Exonyms in Belgium for full lists of place names in Belgium in other languages.
A bilingual French/Luxembourgeois street name sign in Martelange. Source: Wikipedia.
The following municipalities (with their postal codes) are majority Flemish speaking with a protected French-speaking minority. Note that in this and the following lists the status of the municipalities are established by law and do not necessarily represent the true proportion of speakers within them.
1547 Bever 3717 Herstappe 1950 Kraainem 9600 Ronse 1640 Sint-Genesius-Rode 8587 Spiere-Helkijn (includes Spier and Helkijn) 3790 Voeren (includes Moelingen, ’s-Gravenvoeren, Sint-Martens-Voeren, Sint-Pieters-Voeren, Remersdaal and Teuven) 1780 Wemmel 1970 Wezembeek-Oppem
The following municipalities are majority French speaking with a protected Flemish-speaking minority:
7780 Comines-Warneton (includes Ploegsteert, Warneton, Bas-Warneton, Comines and Houtem) 7850 Enghien (includes Petit-Enghien and Marcq) 7880 Flobecq 7700 Mouscron (includes Luingne, Herseaux and Dottignies)
(1) Bilingual street names in Comines, a French-language municipality with facilities for Flemish-speakers. (2) the Flemish version of Comines (Komen) obliterated from a road sign. © Bernd Kueck, http:www.grenzen.150m.com
The following municipalities are majority French speaking with a protected German-speaking minority:
4960 Malmedy (includes Bevercé, and Bellevaux-Ligneuville) 4950 Waimes (includes Faymonville and Robertville)
The following municipalities are majority German speaking with a protected French-speaking minority:
4770 Amel (includes Heppenbach and Meyerode) 4760 Büllingen (includes Rocherath and Manderfeld) 4790 Burg-Reuland (includes Thommen and Reuland) 4750 Bütgenbach (includes Elsenborn) 4700 Eupen (includes Kettenis) 4720 Kelmis (includes Hergenrath and Neu-Moresnet) 4710 Lontzen (includes Walhorn) 4730 Raeren (includes Hauset and Eynatten) 4780 Sankt-Vith (includes Recht, Crombach Lommersweiler amd Schoenberg)
Brussels
Brussels is a bilingual area, with some 80% of the population speaking French, the rest having Flemish as a mother tongue. Virtually all of the Flemish-speaking minority speak French, but mailing indiscriminately in French is not well received. It is therefore essential that mailings are sent and other communications made in the language of the respondent, not the language of the area.
Bruxelles and Brussel are used interchangeably. In the interests of consistency, use either one or ‘Brussels’ within the database and output Bruxelles or Brussel according to the language of the recipient. Alternatively, using ‘Brussels’ is acceptable (and better received than either of the alternatives to a speaker of the ‘other’ language), especially in business-to-business mailings.
Brussels consists of 19 municipalities. Addresses will often use the French or Flemish municipality name, or a version of the name ‘Brussels’. The municipality names in the correct language of the address should be used. The municipalities are, listed here with the French version first, for no particular reason, and with their postal codes:
1070 Anderlecht 1160 Auderghem/Oudergem 1080 Berchem-Sainte-Agathe/Sint-Agatha-Berchem 1000 Bruxelles/Brussel 1040 Etterbeek 1140 Evere 1190 Forest/Vorst 1080 Ganshoren 1050 Ixelles/Elsene 1090 Jette 1080 Koekelberg 1080 Molenbeek-Saint-Jean/Sint-Jans-Molenbeek 1060 Saint-Gilles/Sint-Gillis 1030 Saint-Josse-ten-Noode/Sint-Joost-ten-Node 1030 Schaerbeek/Schaarbeek 1180 Uccle/Ukkel 1170 Watermael-Boitsfort/Watermaal-Bosvoorde 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert/Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe 1150 Woluwe-Saint-Pierre/Sint-Pieters-Woluwe
Alternate place name forms/postal code tables can be acquired at http:www.grcdi.nl/settlements.htm
Other language place name data can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/otherlanguageplace.htm
Belgium - Administrative districts
Note: This section last updated 29th April 2019
Belgium is a federal state with a bewildering number of administrative layers based on geographical area and language community. It has 10 provinces split into 41 arrondissements
. Brussels has its own region (postal codes 1000-1299). Fortunately they should never be used in addresses. The provinces are all unilingual, although some will contain some municipalities where there are facilities for a language minority. The provinces with their abbreviations, languages and arrondissements are as follows:
Antwerpen (Antw.) (Flemish speaking. French name: Anvers) – postal codes 2000-2999
Antwerpen
Mechelen
Turnhout
Brabant Wallon (Bt.W.) (French speaking. Flemish name: Waals Brabant) – postal codes 1300-1499
Nivelles
Hainaut (Ht.) (French speaking. Flemish name: Henegouwen) – postal codes 6000-6599 and 7000-7999
Ath
Charleroi
La Louvière
Mons
Soignes
Thuin
Tournai
Liège (Lg.) (French and German speaking. Flemish name: Luik; German name: Lüttich) – postal codes 4000-4999
Huy
Liège
Verviers
Waremme
Limburg (Limb.) (Flemish speaking. French name: Limbourg) – postal codes 3500-3999
Hasselt
Maaseik
Tongeren
Luxembourg (Lux.) (French speaking. Flemish name: Luxemburg) – postal codes 6600-6999
Arlon
Bastogne
Marche-en-Famenne
Neufchâteau
Virton
Namur (Nam.) (French speaking. Flemish name: Namen) – postal codes 5000-5999
Dinant
Namur
Philippeville
East Flanders (O.-V1.) (Flemish speaking. French name: Flandre-Orientale) – postal codes 9000-9999
Aalst
Dendermonde
Eeklo
Gent
Oudenaarde
Sint-Niklaas
Vlaams Brabant (Vl.-Bt.) (Flemish speaking. French name: Brabant-Flamand) – postal codes 1500-1999 and 3000-3499
Leuven
Vilvoorde
West Vlaanderen (W.-V1.) (Flemish speaking. French name: Flandre-Occidental) – postal codes 8000-8999
Brugge
Diksmuide
Ieper
Kortrijk
Oostende
Roeselare
Tielt
Veurne
Administrative districts graphic
Telephone numbers in Belgium
Belgian area codes for fixed-line numbers have 1 or 2 digits when called from abroad; subscriber numbers have 6 or 7 digits. Together the full number length is 8 digits. Mobile numbers commence 47-49 and have a total length of 9 digits.
Tables of telephone number information/formats can be acquired – see http://www.grcdi.nl/telephone.htm
References
- ^ citypopulation.de/en/belgium/admin/
Every effort is made to keep this resource updated. If you find any errors, or have any questions or requests, please don't hesitate to contact the author.
All information copyright Graham Rhind 2024. Any information used should be acknowledged and referenced.