Belgium has a relatively small population compared to ‘Big 5’ Western European countries (its population is around 25% that of Spain) but it lies in a strategically important position within Western Europe. Brussels is home to a number of key institutions of the European Union.
European institutions in the capital include the European Commission (the executive branch of the EU), the Council of Ministers and the European Council. Belgium is therefore an important location for market research that has any kind of European political or regulatory dimension.
Belgium is divided into three autonomous regions: the Dutch-speaking Flemish Region in the north, French-speaking Wallonia in the south, and the Brussels-Capital Region in the middle, where the majority of residents also speak French as their first language (although English is also widely spoken in Brussels). It is important to bear these linguistic differences in mind when planning any kind of national market research in Belgium.
