8 Billion Lives
Be born

Where you could be born / Europe / Western Europe

Born in Belgium

About 1 in 1,299 people born in 2023 started life in Belgium. A boy can expect to live 80 years and a girl 84, up from 64 and 69 in 1950. Most people live in cities, and nearly everyone has basic drinking water.

1 in 1,299
odds of being born here
101,700 births · Ranked 104th of 230
80 / 84
years of life, boys / girls
Was 64 / 69 in 1950
$25,522
income per person a year
2021 dollars · Ranked 39th of 203 · extrapolated
88%
live in a city
The rest live in villages

Life and health

Life lasts about 16 years longer than in 1950. Child deaths fell from 60 in every 1,000 births to 3.9.

How long a life lasts

GirlsBoys

0255075100195019852023

Years a baby born that year could expect to live.

Children who die before age 5
020406080195019852023

In every 1,000 births.

Life expectancy at birth79.9 years for boys, 84.3 for girlsUN WPP 2024
Children who die before age 53.9 in every 1,000 birthsUN WPP 2024
Deaths a year114,000UN WPP 2024
Doctors per 1,000 people3.6World Bank WDI
Children immunized against measles96%World Bank WDI
Adults living with HIV0.2%World Bank WDI
New tuberculosis cases a year3 per 100,000 peopleWorld Bank WDI

Family

Women had 2.4 children on average in 1950. Now it is 1.4, below the 2.1 it takes to keep a population steady.

Children per woman
0123195019852023

Average over a lifetime.

Children per woman1.38UN WPP 2024
Average age of mothers at birth31.0 yearsUN WPP 2024

Money and work

If every 100 coins of income were shared out, the richest fifth would hold 36 and the poorest fifth 9.

Who gets the income
Share of all income by fifth of the population, 2023
9%Poorest fifth
14%Second
18%Middle
22%Fourth
36%Richest fifth
Income per personabout $25,522 a year (2021 dollars, adjusted for prices)World Bank PIP, scaled between survey years Extrapolated
Share of income going to the richest fifth / poorest fifth36% / 9% (2023)World Bank PIP
Unemployment5.5% of the workforce (2023)World Bank WDI
Price rises4.0% a year (2023)World Bank WDI
Growth in output per person0.7% (2023)World Bank WDI
Jobs in farming1% of jobsWorld Bank WDI
Self-employed15% of jobs (2025)World Bank WDI
Secondary school enrolment143% (can pass 100 when older students are counted)World Bank WDI

Daily life

The largest city is Brussels, with 1.0 million people.

88%
live in cities
100%
have electricity at home
100%
have basic drinking water
Largest cities
People living there
Brussels1.0 million
Antwerp529,247
Gent265,086
Charleroi200,132
Liège195,278
Languages
Share of people who can use each
English59%
Dutch55%
French38%
German22%
West Flemish10%
Dutch, French, German is official.

Cities and regions

Every state, province and large city with a page.

Largest regions

Flanders4.9 million
Wallonia2.0 million
Brussels Capital2.0 million

Sourced: GeoNames Population of each state, province or region.

Large cities

Sourced: GeoNames Cities with a page: a million people or more.

People on the move

About 4.5% as many people born here live abroad as live here. The most common destinations are France, Netherlands, Spain.

Where people born here live abroad
By country of residence, 2024
France169,102
Netherlands67,931
Spain55,364
Residents born abroad20.0% (2024)World Bank WDI
People born here who live abroadequal to 4.5% of the people who live hereUN DESA migrant stock
Where they go mostFrance (169,102), Netherlands (67,931), Spain (55,364)UN DESA migrant stock
Money sent home from abroadabout $16.3 billion a year (2025)World Bank WDI

Safety nets

100% of older people receive a pension. Help for someone who loses a job reaches 100%.

100%
of older people receive a pension (2022)
100%
of unemployed people receive a benefit (2022)

Events in the data

The game draws real events from these records, so a life lived here can meet them.

Reported COVID-19 deaths, 2020 to 202434,339Our World in Data, from WHO
Significant earthquakes recorded since 19501NOAA NCEI
Deaths in organized violence34 between 2016 and 2016UCDP

Now live it.

Born in Belgium, to a family drawn from these numbers. Every life replays exactly from its seed.

Be born in Belgium

Elsewhere in Europe

All countries

How to read the sources. Every figure is sourced to a named dataset, shown beside it. A figure marked "Extrapolated" is estimated by a model because no survey covers the year. UN figures are for 2023, the latest year of UN estimates; other figures are the latest year their dataset has. Rank 1 is the highest figure among 230 countries and territories. All sources and licences