.BE Domain Name - Belgium Domain Name .BE

Belgium Location:
50°542 N, 4°322 E

Belgium Geography:
Belgium, with a land area of 30,528 square kilometres (33,990 km² in total), has three main geographical regions: the coastal plain in the north-west, the central plateau, and the Ardennes uplands in the south-east. The coastal plain consists mainly of sand dunes and polders. Polders are areas of land, close to or below sea level that have been reclaimed from the sea, from which they are protected by dikes or, further inland, by fields that have been drained with canals. The second geographical region, the central plateau, lies further inland. This is a smooth, slowly rising area that has many fertile valleys and is irrigated by many waterways. Here one can also find rougher land, including caves and small gorges. Belgium shares borders with France 620 km, Germany 167 km, Luxembourg 148 km and Netherlands 450 km.
High Fens in the Ardennes.The third geographical region, called the Ardennes, is more rugged than the first two. It is a thickly forested plateau, very rocky and not very good for farming, which extends into northern France and in Germany where it is named Eifel. This is where much of Belgium's wildlife can be found. Belgium's highest point, the Signal de Botrange, is located in this region at only 694 metres (2,277 ft).
The climate is maritime temperate, with significant precipitation in all seasons (Köppen climate classification: Cfb). The average temperature is lowest in January at 3 °C (37 °F), and highest in July with 18 °C (64 °F); the average precipitation per month varies between 54 millimetres (2.1 in) in February or April, to 78 millimetres (3.1 in) in July.[30] Averages for the years 2000 till 2006 show for daily temperatures a minimum of 7 °C (45 °F) and a maximum of 14 °C (57 °F), for monthly rainfall 74 millimetres (2.9 in), which are about 1 degree centigrade and nearly 10 millimetres above last century's normal values.[31]
Because of its high population density, location in the centre of Western Europe, and inadequate political effort, Belgium faces serious environmental problems. A 2003 report suggested Belgian rivers to have the lowest water quality of the 122 countries studied.[32]

Belgium People:
Population - 2006 estimate 10.511.382[1] (76th [2005])
- 2001 census 10,296,350
- Density 344.32 /km² (2006) (29th [2005])
892 /sq mi

Belgium Government:
Government Federal constitutional monarchy and bicameral parliamentary democracy
- King Albert II
- Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt

Belgium Economy:
Densely populated, Belgium is located at the heart of one of the world's most highly industrialized regions, which helps to explain its place amongst the world's ten largest trading nations despite its small size, and with a highly productive work force its world leadership in export per capita.[12] Currently, the Belgium economy is heavily service-oriented and shows a dual nature with a dynamic Flemish part and Brussels as its main multilingual and multi-ethnic centre and a GNP/person which is one of the highest in the European Union,[citation needed] and a Walloon economy that lags roughly one quarter behind (in GNP/person).
Steelmaking along the Meuse River at Ougrée, near Liège.Belgium was the first continental European country to undergo the Industrial Revolution, in the early 1800s.[33] Liège and Charleroi rapidly developed mining and steelmaking, which flourished until the mid-20th century. However, by the 1840s the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis and there was famine in Flanders (1846 50). After World War II, Ghent and Antwerp experienced a fast expansion of the chemical and petroleum industries. The 1973 and 1979 oil crises sent the economy into a recession, in particular prolonged in Wallonia where the steel industry had become less competitive and has experienced serious decline.[34] In the 1980s and 90s, the economic centre of the country continued to shift northwards, where it is now concentrated in the populous Flemish Diamond area.[35]
By the end of the 1980s, Belgian macroeconomic policies had resulted in a cumulative government debt of about 120% of GDP. Currently, budget is in balance and public debt is equal to 90.30% of GDP (2006).[36] In 2005 and 2006 the real growth rate of GDP at 1.5% and 3.0% respectively, was slightly above the average for the euro area; the unemployment rate of 8.4% in 2005 was under the same area's average, but came above that in 2006, though decreased to 8.2%.[37]
Belgium has a particularly open economy.[12] It has developed an excellent transportation infrastructure of ports, canals, railways and roads to integrate its industry with that of its neighbours. The Port of Antwerp is the second-largest European port and Zeebrugge, the modern port of Bruges, is an important European port as well. One of the founding members of the European Union, Belgium strongly supports the extension of the powers of EU institutions to integrate the member economies. In 1999, Belgium adopted the euro, the single European currency, which fully replaced the Belgian franc in 2002. The Belgian economy is strongly oriented towards foreign trade, in particular of high value-added goods. The main imports are food products, machinery, rough diamonds, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, clothing and accessories, and textiles. The main exports are automobiles, food and food products, iron and steel, finished diamonds, textiles, plastics, petroleum products, and nonferrous metals. Since 1922, Belgium and Luxembourg have been a single trade market within a customs and currency union  the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union. Its main trading partners are Germany, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United States and Spain. Belgium ranks thirteenth on the 2006 United Nations Human Development Index.

Belgium More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium