Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German.

• Dutch (often called Flemish in Belgium) is the most spoken language, used by about 60% of the population, primarily in the northern region of Flanders. Flemish is a variant of Dutch with some differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and idioms compared to the Dutch spoken in the Netherlands

• French is the second most spoken language, spoken natively by about one third to 40% of Belgians, mainly in the southern Wallonia region and in Brussels, the capital. Belgian French is very similar to the French of France but has some distinct vocabulary and pronunciation

• German is the least common official language, spoken by less than 1% of the population, mostly in a small eastern region near the German border. This area was annexed from Germany after World War I

Additionally, Luxembourgish is spoken traditionally in a small southern part of Belgium (Arelerland), but it has no official status

. In Brussels, both French and Dutch are official languages, with most inhabitants speaking French as either a primary language or lingua franca

. Thus, Belgium’s linguistic landscape is shaped by its history and geography, with Dutch/Flemish, French, and German as the official languages distributed regionally across the country