Belgica

Here are 25 facts about Belgium that I bet you didn’t know:
1. In 1066, Huy, Belgium became the first European city to receive a charter of rights, making it the oldest free city on the continent.2. Brussels sprouts really do come from Belgium and have grown in the Brussels area for over 400 years.
3. Although the exact number is disputed, Belgium makes over 800 different beers. Belgiansdrink an average of 150 litres of beer per year per person.
4. Belgium produces 220,000 tons of chocolate per year. That’s about 22kg of chocolate per person in Belgium.
5. Luckily Belgians don’teat all of that chocolate. The Brussels’ National Airport is the World’s biggest chocolate selling point.
6. Belgium has one of the lowest proportions of McDonald’s in the developed world. It has 7times fewer McDonald’s restaurants than the USA and 2 times less than France.
7. Belgians tend to be liberal thinkers. They legalised euthanasia in 2002, and gay marriage in 2003.
8. A 2007 EuropeanReport stated Belgium has the lowest salary gap between men and women in the EU after Malta. Belgium has the highest proportion of female ministers in the world (55% in 2000) and was one of the firstto have a female parliamentarian, in 1921.
9. Belgium has compulsory education up to 18 years old. This is one of the highest in the world.
10. Belgium also has enforced compulsory voting.
11.Belgians pay some of the highest tax rates in the world, around 40% of their gross earnings. Taxation represents 45.6 % of the country’s GDP.
12. Belgium grants the most new citizenships per capitain the world after Canada. 1.6 million people in Belgium are immigrants or children or grandchildren of immigrants. That’s 15% of the population.
13. Belgium has the highest density of roads andrailroads in the world. It is the country with the 3rd most vehicles per square kilometre after the Netherlands and Japan. Because of the quantiy of lights, the Belgian highway system is the only...