Belgian literature
Because Belgium is a multilingual country, Belgian literature is divided into two main linguistic branches following the two most prominently spoken languages in the country - Dutch and French. German is the third language in Belgium and is spoken by a small community of about 70,000 German-speakers of the German-speaking Community of Belgium bordering on Germany.
Dutch in Belgium
The last official census count in Brussels dates from 1947. At that time, the proportions were 24.24% Dutch-speaking and 70.61% French-speaking. Since then no official census have been carried out (these were abolished under Flemish political pressure because they were often performed unreliable and could not be an argument for further 'minorizing' Dutch). Since then, it has been necessary to rely on other sources to get an idea of the number of Dutch and French speakers in Brussels.