Belgium
One of the founders of the European Community, Belgium has prospered in the past half century as a modern and technologically advanced state. It became a first-tier member of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union in January 1999. GDP is split into three main categories, service accounting for 72.5%, industry 24.5%, and agriculture 1.1%.
Considering the state’s various regional differences, we witness different influences in different parts of the country. While the Flanders’ main occupation is agriculture, Wallonia is a technologically advanced region. The disparities are so great that they even requested constitutional amendments granting them autonomy. No wonder, economic growth in Belgium is not homogeneous but varies from region to region. Thus, productivity is 10% higher per inhabitant in Flanders than in Wallonia. Also, Flanders managed to attract more diversified investments from multinationals while Walloon economy relied more on heavy industry, and suffered more from the worldwide move away from it. Even GDP per capita differs between the two regions. While the GDP per capita (PPP, 2004 data) was €27,356 in Flanders, it was €21,858 in Wallonia.
This modern, private-enterprise economy has capitalized on its central geographic location, highly developed transport network, and diversified industrial and commercial base. With few natural resources, Belgium must import substantial quantities of raw materials and export a large volume of manufactures, making its economy unusually dependent on the state of world markets. Roughly three-quarters of its trade is with other EU countries. Economic growth and foreign direct investment dropped in 2008, resulting in a relatively small growth rate. The Brussels Stock Exchange has merged with stock markets from Paris and Amsterdam to form Euronext N.V and Euronext has merged with NYSE Group to form the first Global Stock Exchange.
Macroeconomic Data
Nominal GDP: $376 billion
GDP growth rate: 2.7%
Population: 10,403,951 (July 2008 est.)
Approximate GDP per capita: $35,300
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