Demographics of Belgium
Belgium's three official languages are Dutch, spoken by 59% of the population, French, spoken by 40%, and German, spoken by less than 1%. The vast majority of Belgium's population, 99%, is literate as defined by the Belgian government, i.e. capable of reading and writing in an official language by the time a citizen has reached the age of 15.
Belgium in &quot;the long nineteenth century&quot;
At the start of the period, French was the dominant language, and was the only one approved for use in legal and government business, however Belgium become officially bilingual in 1870 and Dutch was officially recognized as an equal language to French in legal matters in 1898.