New figures published by Belgium's statistical agency Statbel have revealed that nearly 5,000 people became official Belgian nationals in October 2023.
In total, 4,927 people acquired Belgian nationality. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in October were Morocco, Syria, Romania, Afghanistan and Poland.
The main criterion for applying for citizenship in Belgium is being a resident of the country for five or ten years, depending on their employment status. For those wishing to become nationals of le plat pays, fluency in one of the official languages (Dutch, French or German) is also required.
Number of nationality changes in Belgium since 1992. Credit: Statbel
The October 2023 figures come from the provisional monthly results of the statistics on changes of nationality calculated from Demobel, Statbel's demographic database.
In 2022, 48,482 people acquired Belgian nationality and 39 lost it. This amounts to a total of 48,521 changes of nationality.
