Flemish Brabant

Flemish Brabant (Dutch: Vlaams-Brabant [ˌvlaːmz ˈbraːbɑnt] ; French: Brabant flamand [bʁabɑ̃ flamɑ̃] ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also surrounds the Brussels-Capital Region. Its capital is Leuven. It has an area of 2,118 km2 (818 sq mi) which is divided into two administrative districts (arrondissementen in Dutch) containing 65 municipalities. As of January 2024, Flemish Brabant had a population of over 1.19 million. Flemish Brabant was created in 1995 by the splitting of the former province of Brabant into three parts: two new provinces, Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant; and the Brussels-Capital Region, which no longer belongs to any province. The split was made to accommodate the eventual division of Belgium in three regions (Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region). The province is made up of two arrondissements. The Halle-Vilvoorde Arrondissement surrounds Brussels and is mainly a residential area, though it also contains large industrial zones and has Belgium's main airport. It is joined by the Leuven Arrondissement, centered on Leuven, the province's capital and largest city. Products of Flemish Brabant include Belgian beers. The official language of Flemish Brabant is Dutch, as in the rest of Flanders. A few municipalities are to a certain extent allowed to use French to communicate with their citizens; these are called the municipalities with language facilities. Other such special municipalities can be found along the border between Flanders and Wallonia, and between the French and the German Community of Belgium. Halle-Vilvoorde mostly surrounds Brussels, which is officially bilingual but whose inhabitants mostly speak French.