Speaking Dutch is central to this, van den Broeck believes. “Dutch is part of our DNA” as Flemish people, he said.
Migration drives shifts
“Brussels has always been a multilingual city because it’s centered at the border between the Roman- and the German-speaking territories,” explained VUB researcher Saeys.
Waves of migration after World War II contributed to making Belgium — and Brussels in particular — more multicultural. The first two were when Belgium brought in migrant workers, from the Mediterranean and then the Maghreb, to work in the mines.
The third and most recent happened when Brussels became the capital of the European Union. This not only drew migrants from Eastern Europe, especially after the EU’s eastward expansions, but also other expats. They sought work in the EU institutions and associated nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, consultancies — in other words, the so-called Brussels bubble.
The survey of languages in the Belgian capital, which polled 2,500 households in Brussels, also reflects growing linguistic diversity: The overall number of languages spoken has gone up from 72 in 2001, to 104 in 2024.
“Brussels grows primarily due to internationalization,” Saeys said. “At this point, 75 percent of the people who live in Brussels have a foreign origin.”
