At the end of 2013, the number of non-Belgians living in Belgium was just over 1.2 million, according to the latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE) in its report on international migration, published on Tuesday. The nationalities with the largest number of people living in Belgium, around 150,000 each, are Italian, French and Dutch.
In 2013, 119,000 migrants were admitted to Belgium, slightly fewer than in 2012 (123,000) and 2011 (132,000). OECD points out that these figures do not include asylum seekers. The 2013 migrants were mainly from France (13,600), Romania (10,000), the Netherlands (9,000) and Poland (7,500). A total of 92,000 migrants were declared as leaving Belgium in 2013, (84,000 in 2012 and 81,000 in 2011). “The people leaving were mainly French (10,000), Dutch (6,800), Romanian (4,200) and Polish (4,000),” pointed out the report.
13,500 Belgian nationals returned to Belgium in 2013 and 24,900 emigrated, meaning net emigration stood at 11,400.
Just under 11,000 asylum applications (first applicants) were recorded in 2014 and 10,200 in 2013. Last year, first applicants hailed mainly from Syria (1,800) Irak (800) and Eritrea (700). 37% of the applicants were granted refugee status (compared to only 16% in 2013) and 10% were granted subsidiary protection.
(Source: Belga)
