geo.be Metadata Catalog
geo.be Metadata Catalog (National Geographic Institute)
Continents, countries, sea regions of the world.
Total population - Flanders and Brussels Capital Region
The number of inhabitants on January 1 according to the official definition of the population, by administrative entity (region, province, district and municipality) for Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region
•The custodian of the resource holds the rights of property (including the rights of intellectual property) to the geographic files •The custodian grants the user the right to use the data for his internal use. •Commercial use of the data under any form is strictly forbidden •Custodian’s name must be mentioned each time the data are being used publically.
Every year, Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, calculates the legal population as determined by Belgian law. For this, Statbel obtains demographic data from the National Register (RRNP). The processing of this data and the formatting of the statistics are carried out almost entirely by Statbel. The National Register is a legal instrument that has existed in Belgium since 1983 and which centralizes the population registers established in each Belgian municipality from 1846. It registers all residents of Belgium in various registers: mainly the population register and foreigners (the Belgians domiciled and foreigners to settle or stay longer than three months - in Belgium), the waiting register (political refugee candidates) and diplomatic and consular registers, as well as that of European officials and members of other institutions international organizations (NATO) and their families. The official population of Belgium, which serves as the basis for the calculations of demographic indices, includes all persons from the National Register who have their main residence in Belgium, with the exception of the waiting register. PLEASE NOTE: In the European population statistics, asylum applicants (persons in the waiting register) are included. This is also the case for French population statistics.
Annual and seasonal precipitation indices given in number of days: 1/ Wet days: Number of days with precipitation > 0.1 mm/day for winter, autumn, spring, summer; 2/ Dry days: Number of days with precipitation < 0.1 mm/day for winter, autumn, spring, summer; 3/ Average length of dry spells: Mean duration of minimum three consecutive days with precipitation < 0.1 mm/day; 4/ Maximum length of dry spells: Longest period of minimum three consecutive days with precipitation < 0.1 mm/day, occurring once in 20 years. The precipitation indices are available for the future target year 2085, which corresponds to the middle of the 30-year period 2071-2100, and for mean and high impact scenarios corresponding respectively to the 50th, and 5th or 95th percentiles of the change factors.
climate projections,Belgium,Representative Concentration Pathway,high resolution
Meteorology, weather and radiation conditions
In the follow-up Belspo funded 'CICADA' project (2019-2021, https://www.belspo.be/belspo/brain-be/projects/FinalReports/CICADAbe_FinRep.pdf), these Belgian climate model projections were used to adjust the spread of climate change signals based on the larger model ensemble of all available CMIP5 Global Climate Model runs (https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/mips/cmip5/) and EURO-CORDEX Regional Climate Model runs (https://euro-cordex.net/060378/index.php.en). This multi-model ensemble of climate change signals or factors were used to apply a statistical downscaling or more specifically a quantile perturbation method on the observational climate grid from the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium. From those ensembles, 5th, 50th, and 95th percentiles of changes, corresponding to a mean (50th percentiles) and high (5th or 95th percentiles) impact scenario, were obtained for the variables: precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, global solar radiation and potential evapotranspiration.
CORINE High Resolution Layers-Belgium 2015
The product is made of 5 "high resolution layers" covering all the Belgian territory as part of a European-wide coverage for the reference year 2015. The 5 layers concern 4 distinct themes: Imperviousness, Forest, Grasslands, Wetness and Water. The 5 layers were produced by an automatic classification based on satellite images and collateral data and achieved by private companies (EEA service providers), and they were verified by Belgium. At the Belgian level, verification and enhancements were made by IV for the northern part and SPW for the outhern part. The NGI coordinated the project. Data was produced with funding by the European Union. Copyright Copernicus Programme DISCLAIMER: National Geographic Institute has undertaken to distribute the data on behalf of EEA under Specific Contract No 3436/R0-Copernicus/EEA.57005 implementing Framework service contract No EEA/IDM/R0/16/009/Belgium. National Geographic Institute accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the content and use of these data.” The European Environment Agency accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the information on this site and the information does not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the EEA or other European Communities bodies and institutions.
The layer was completed by the automatic classification achieved by an EEA service provider. Belgium achieved a classification verification on the basis of their own thematic data and aerial photographs.
The ratio of the number of people aged over 80 to the number of people aged over 65 according to official statistics, per administrative entity (region, province, district and municipality) for Wallonia
Supplier: Statbel (IWEPS calculations) Comparable data over time, available here from 1985. Each year, Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, calculates the legal population figure as determined by Belgian law. For this, Statbel draws demographic data from the national register (RN). The RN is a legal tool that has existed in Belgium since 1983 which centralizes the population registers established in each Belgian municipality from 1846. It registers all residents of Belgium in different registers: mainly the population register and foreigners (the Belgians and foreigners domiciled - authorized to settle or stay for more than three months - in Belgium), the waiting register (political refugee candidates) and diplomatic and consular registers as well as that of European officials and members of other institutions international organizations (NATO) and their families. The official population of Belgium, which serves as the basis for the calculations of demographic indices, counts all of the RN people who have their main residence in Belgium, excluding the waiting register.
Annual and seasonal precipitation indices given in number of days: 1/ Wet days: Number of days with precipitation > 0.1 mm/day for winter, autumn, spring, summer; 2/ Dry days: Number of days with precipitation < 0.1 mm/day for winter, autumn, spring, summer; 3/ Average length of dry spells: Mean duration of minimum three consecutive days with precipitation < 0.1 mm/day; 4/ Maximum length of dry spells: Longest period of minimum three consecutive days with precipitation < 0.1 mm/day, occurring once in 20 years. The precipitation indices are available for the present target year 1975, which corresponds to the middle of the 30-year period 1961-1990.
Contaminants in biota and bird eggs dataset in support of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Descriptor 8 (D08C01, 2018 Reporting)
This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 8, criterion 1. This dataset describes the contaminant concentrations in biota. The priority substances mercury, hexachlorobutadiene and hexachlorobenzene are measured in mussels and flounder in the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS). Results for other parameters that are part of the OSPAR (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) Coordinated Environmental Monitoring Program are also included: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, organotin compounds and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) for the period 2011-2016. The analyses are performed by Instituut voor Landbouw-, Visserij- en Voedingsonderzoek (ILVO) and RBINS-OD Nature that both participate in the Quasimeme ring tests for additional quality control. Bird eggs of 2008, 2010 and 2015 are measured for mercury (Hg), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH). Eggs from the are measured and compared with OSPAR norms Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) are gathered in Zeebrugge and are analyzed by the Insitut für vogelforschung in Wilhelmshaven according to a standard protocol.
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138 of 21 December 2022 laying down a list of specific high-value datasets and the arrangements for their publication and re-use (Text with EEA relevance)
Contaminants do not produce pollution effects
(Criteria) D8C1 - Contaminant in environment
Marine environmental pollutants measured in marine species and bird eggs are analysed by ECOCHEM (the laboratory of RBINS-OD Nature accredited for these analyses according to ISO 17025) and imported into the IDOD database of the Belgian Marine Data Centre, following the BMDC Quality Management System. Multiple consistency checks are performed at this point, on information harmonisation, international standards mapping and value QC (units, analysis methods and outliers). The data is then dynamically made available through WFS and statically converted to an INSPIRE-compliant GML file.
National wastewater-based epidemiological surveillance of SARS-CoV-2
The national wastewater-based epidemiological surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 monitors the SARS-CoV-2 presence in several wastewater treatment plants across Belgium. This dataset contains the results per treatment plant since the beginning of the surveillance in September 2020. The results consist of the SARS-CoV-2 concentrations over time as well as other data needed for the interpretations such as the flow rates of the treatment plants and the population covered.
Wastewater, Epidemiological surveillance, Epidemiology, Infectious diseases, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Coronavirus
Environmental Health Determinant Measure
The surveillance started in mid-September 2020 for the whole country. Samples are collected every week at each selected wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) using 24-hour volume proportional or time proportional auto-samplers. Samples are stored at 4°C and analyzed within 24 hours. The samples from Wallonia were analyzed by E-BIOM until December 2023, after which the Foodborne Pathogens Unit of Sciensano took over the analyses. Samples from the Brussels-Capital Region and the provinces of West-Vlanderen, Oost-Vlanderen and Vlaams-Brabant are analyzed by the Foodborne pathogens unit of Sciensano while samples from the provinces of Antwerpen and Limburg are analyzed by the Microbiology, Parasitology and Hygiene Laboratory of the University of Antwerp. The three laboratories use a harmonized protocol. After concentration and RNA extraction, the samples were analyzed by RT-qPCR until June 2023 and later on by RT-dPCR. Three target sequences located in two regions of SARS-Cov-2 genome are analyzed. The gene fragments are the N1 and N2 sequences targeting the N gene encoding for the nucleoprotein, and the E gene encoding for the viral envelope protein. Since June 2023 only N2 and E sequences are analyzed. Until June 2023, analyses were performed in duplicates for the three genes (in triplicates until mid-September 2022 in Wallonia, then in duplicates) but since June 2023, each analysis is conducted only once. The quality of the results is checked and validated at the laboratory level. If the quality is insufficient, additional analyzes are performed. Once received by the data manager, the laboratory results undergo a second validation before being integrated in the database. The 24 hours-representative flow rates of each WWTP are collected using flowmeters and are provided by the wastewater agencies (Hydria and Aquiris for the WWTPs of Brussels, Société Publique de Gestion de l'Eau (SPGE) for the WWTPs of Wallonia and Aquafin for the WWTPs of Flanders). Domestic inhabitant equivalents (IE) are used to estimate the population coverage of each WWTP. IE are based on several data sources (population data, building type data, connection to the network and WWTPs geographical coverage data). IE are provided by SPGE in Wallonia and by the Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij (VMM) in Flanders. In Brussels the population is estimated based on the data provided by Statbel. The data provided by the wastewater agencies and VMM are validated by the data manager before being integrated in the database.
Summer and winter mean relative humidity given in %. The relative humidity fields are available for the present target year 1975, which corresponds to the middle of the 30-year period 1961-1990.
The web application G-DOC provides information on all Belgian geodetic reference points. These points can be used as starting points or checkpoints to determine coordinates according to the national reference systems. three groups of geodetic reference points are available: 3D points, altimetric points and planimetric points.
This web service allows viewing datasets from INSPIRE Contour Lines, and DTM.
Province of Antwerp Province of West Flanders Province of East Flanders province of Flemisch Brabant Province of Limburg
Walloon Institute for Evaluation, Foresight and Statistics (IWEPS)
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Directorate Natural Environment (OD Nature), Belgian Marine Data Centre (BMDC)
Instituut voor Landbouw- en Visserijonderzoek - Visserij (ILVO)
Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS), Directorate Natural Environment (OD Nature), Ecosystems Physico-Chemistry (ECOCHEM)
Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek / Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS), Directorate Natural Environment (OD Nature)