Belgium · region

Flanders population 2026

Q: What is the population of Flanders in 2026?

The latest official figure is 6,884,271, for 1 January 2025 (Eurostat). If last year’s change continues, Flanders would have about 7 million people by 1 July 2026; that is our arithmetic, not an official figure. Eurostat updates regional populations once a year.

Vlaanderen

Flanders has 6,884,271 people on the latest official figure, for 1 January 2025, 45,402 more than a year earlier (+0.66%). It is the most populous of Belgium’s 3 regions, home to 57.9% of Belgium’s people.

If last year’s change continues: about 7 million by 1 July 2026. That is our arithmetic, not an official figure.

Flanders in numbers

Population: 6.9 million 1 January 2025
Change in a year: +0.66% +45,402 people
Change since 2020: +3.69% from 6.6 million
Share of Belgium: 57.9% Largest of 3 regions
Population density: 509per km² 13,522 km²

That is about as many people as Paraguay (7.1 million).

Population of Flanders by year

6.9M

› Show the numbers as a table

Year	Population
2012	6,365,555
2013	6,396,242
2014	6,421,947
2015	6,453,009
2016	6,491,999
2017	6,526,061
2018	6,559,294
2019	6,596,233
2020	6,639,005
2021	6,664,709
2022	6,709,787
2023	6,787,969
2024	6,838,869
2025	6,884,271

Year	Population	Change	%
2025	6,884,271	+45,402	+0.66%
2024	6,838,869	+50,900	+0.75%
2023	6,787,969	+78,182	+1.17%
2022	6,709,787	+45,078	+0.68%
2021	6,664,709	+25,704	+0.39%
2020	6,639,005	+42,772	+0.65%
2019	6,596,233	+36,939	+0.56%
2018	6,559,294	+33,233	+0.51%
2017	6,526,061	+34,062	+0.52%
2016	6,491,999	+38,990	+0.60%
2015	6,453,009	+31,062	+0.48%
2014	6,421,947	+25,705	+0.40%
2013	6,396,242	+30,687	+0.48%
2012	6,365,555	–	–

Flanders among Belgium’s regions

Full ranking →

Regions of Belgium by population
#
1	Flanders	6,884,271	+0.66%	57.9%	509
2	Wallonia	3,727,515	+0.37%	31.4%	221
3	Brussels-Capital Region	1,271,709	+0.58%	10.7%	7,880

Largest cities in Flanders

City proper, not the wider metro area; latest figure in GeoNames (CC BY 4.0), so years differ.

Antwerp529,247
Gent265,086
Brugge118,509
Leuven101,032
Deurne78,747
Hasselt77,651

Questions

What is the population of Flanders in 2026?

The latest official figure is 6,884,271, for 1 January 2025 (Eurostat). If last year’s change continues, Flanders would have about 7 million people by 1 July 2026; that is our arithmetic, not an official figure. Eurostat updates regional populations once a year.

Is Flanders’s population growing or shrinking?

It grew by 45,402 people (+0.66%) in the latest year, and has changed +3.69% since 2020.

How does Flanders rank in Belgium?

Flanders is the most populous of Belgium’s 3 regions, with 57.9% of the people.

What is the population density of Flanders?

About 509 people per km², on 13,522 km². Total area, Wikidata.

What is the largest city in Flanders?

Antwerp, with about 529 thousand people in the city proper. Metro areas are larger, and years differ (GeoNames).

Source and method

Eurostat, population on 1 January by NUTS region (demo_r_d2jan). Eurostat reuse policy (CC BY 4.0). Total area, Wikidata. Eurostat updates regional populations once a year. Ranks, shares and changes are our arithmetic on the published figures. National figures can differ from the UN’s projection for Belgium, which uses a different method. The 2026 figure above carries last year’s change forward; it does not come from the source.

Cite this page: Flanders population, Eurostat, 1 January 2025. GlobeMetrics, https://globemetrics.org/world-population/belgium/flanders/

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