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Some facts you didn’t know about Belgium
How well do you know Belgium? Here is a mix of informative, interesting facts to prepare you for visiting or living in Belgium. See how many of these top 30 Belgian facts you know.
The Big Bang theory originated in Belgium
It was a Belgian, the priest and physicist (apparently not a contradiction in terms) Georges Lemaitre, who first came up with what is now called the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe in 1927. The theory is often attributed to Edwin Hubble, although records show Lemaitre published a similar theory two years before Hubble.
Brussels South Charleroi Airport is the most punctual airport in Europe
It is ranked as the world’s second best airport for on-time performance, just behind Japan’s Osaka International, in OAG’s punctuality report.
Cricket is thought to be a Belgian invention, not British
Academics believe immigrants from north Belgium could have imported the game to Britain, based on a poem thought to have been written in 1533 that calls Flemish weavers ‘king of crekettes’ and also mentions ‘wickettes’, predating English references dating to the 1600s.
Belgian men are the second tallest in the world
With a height of 181.7cm, only Dutchmen are taller at 182.5cm. The same can’t be said for Belgian women, however, who rank 21 at 165.5cm tall.
The highest point in Belgium is lower than the world’s tallest building
The Signal de Botrange on the High Fens plateau in far-east Belgium is the highest point at 694m, shorter than the world’s tallest building in Dubai, the Burj Khalifa at 828m. Belgium along with the Netherlands and Luxembourg are historically known as the Low Countries.
Belgium was the world’s second country to legalize same-sex marriage
Belgium introduced same-sex marriage in 2003, after the Netherlands. Euthanasia was also legalized in 2002.
The Law Courts of Brussels is the world’s largest court of justice
With a construction area of some 26,000sqm, it is bigger than St Peter’s Basilica in Rome by 5,000sqm. On the topic of construction, the façade of Brussels’ Royal Palace is 50 percent longer than Buckingham Palace.
Belgians are accredited to inventing the Body Mass Index (BMI), the saxophone, and plastic
Among a number of other world-changing inventions, such as co-designing the World Wide Web, Imodium, inline skates, and a safe contraceptive pill.
Belgians pay among the highest tax rates in Europe
Which amount to some 57.8 percent for the highest earners, according to the CGI report, which ranked Belgium’s tax rates as fourth highest in Europe after France (66.6 percent), Italy and Spain, while OECD ranks Belgium third highest for tax rates out of its 34 members. Belgium’s tax revenue is among the highest in Europe representing around 48 percent of the country’s GDP.
Europe’s first skyscraper was built in Belgium
Known as the Torengebouw in 1928 in Antwerp. It is still the tallest building in Antwerp today at around 96m (26 floors).The art-deco edifice, now known as Boerentoren or KBC Tower, was the tallest building on the continent until 1940 when Terazza Martini Tower opened in Genoa, Italy. Belgium is also attributed to having Europe’s oldest shopping arcades, The Galeries St Hubert, which opened in Brussels in 1847.
The name ‘Belgium’ comes from the Romans
When they called their province in the north of Gaul Gallia Belgica, after its previous inhabitants the Celtic and German Belgae. Belgium’s official name today is the Kingdom of Belgium, known in the country’s three official languages as Koninkrijk België (Dutch), Royaume deBelgique (French) and Königreich Belgien (German). King Philippe of Belgium is the current monarch.
The Belgian divorce rate is the highest in Western Europe
Only Latvia and Lithuania surpass Belgium’s divorce rate, which is estimated at around 70 percent. Around two-thirds of all marriages in Belgium are between first-time couples, while in the remaining third at least one person has been divorced.
Belgium has more comic strip artists per square kilometer than anywhere in the world
Is the birthplace of the famous comic book series The Smurfs (Pierre Culliford) and The Adventures of Tintin (Hergé), the latter which has been translated into more than 100 languages. An original cover from Tintin In America became the world’s most valuable when it sold for EUR 1.3mn. Today visitors can walk Brussels’ comic strip trail.
The longest tram line in the world is the Belgian Coast Tram
The Kusttram travels the full 68km of Belgian coast between the French and Dutch borders, making some 68 stops from Knokke-Heist to De Panne and running every 10 minutes during summer peak hours.
Belgium business immigration
Application conditions
1. Non-criminal record;
2. Start a business
Belgium asset management
Program contains documents: Belgium passport, overseas account and company
Application conditions
1. Non-criminal record;
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