User:Demdem/Maltese in Belgium

Maltese in Belgium includes people from Malta who are or have become residents or citizens of Belgium as well as students and temporary workers.

Population
Before 2003 the Maltese in Belgium were mostly people married to Belgians who had emigrated to the country or Maltese diplomats. In 2003 the employment of Maltese nationals with the European Union (EU) started in earnest in view of Malta's membership of the organisation.

According to the Belgian national statistics office show that the number of Maltese in Belgium stood at 252 as of 1 January 2008. Of these, 159 lived in the Brussels-Capital Region, 70 in the Flemish Region and 23 in the Walloon Region. This represents a significant increase over previous years: in 2005 the number of Maltese in Belgium stood at 133 and at 192 in 2006. A more recent estimate quotes the figure of 400 Maltese in Belgium in 2010.

Society
Most of the Maltese are in Belgium because of their employment with the EU. It is in fact estimated that of the 324 Maltese employed with the EU in 2010, around 250 worked in Belgium. This is why they're considered to expatriates rather than emigrants which was the case with the Maltese diaspora in previous generations.

This also explains why most Maltese in Belgium either live in the Brussels-Capital Region or the municipalities bordering this region, in the area in and around the Brussels Ring.

The 2008 statistics indicate a community that's more or less evenly balanced between the sexes and whose members are predominantly in the 25-40 age group.