The largest cities of Belgium: urban units, municipalities and metro areas

Belgium counted three ways: by continuous built-up area, by municipality and by metro area. 7 urban units pass 100,000 people; the largest is Brussels-Antwerp-Gent, with 5,901,474. The city of Brussels has 1,019,022 people within its limits; its urban unit, 5,901,474; its metro area, 2,402,346.

The 60 largest urban units of Belgium (Statbel). Dot area proportional to population.

How Belgium counts its cities

Statbel draws agglomerations of buildings no more than 200 m apart, from the 2011 census. In Flanders, the built-up area never breaks between Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent: one unit of 5.9 million people, about half the country.

The 25 largest urban units

Source: Statbel, 200 m agglomerations, 2011 census.

#	Urban unit	People	Area (km²)
1	Brussels-Antwerp-Gent	5,901,474	4,429
2	Liège	648,896	384
3	Charleroi	365,118	203
4	Brugge	254,368	161
5	La Louvière	210,057	136
6	Mons	199,745	135
7	Namur	112,456	91
8	Genk	97,130	84
9	Turnhout	82,831	59
10	Maasmechelen	71,095	64
11	Koksijde	54,527	39
12	Huy	51,036	53
13	Beveren	48,812	27
14	Tournai	48,692	37
15	Torhout	47,000	74
16	Maldegem	43,084	45
17	Tongeren	36,741	35
18	Ronse	35,835	53
19	Nijlen	34,281	41
20	Neerpelt	33,815	38
21	Knokke-Heist	32,931	17
22	Lommel	30,962	31
23	Zele	27,209	19
24	Nivelles	25,153	14
25	Ieper	23,849	20

The 10 largest municipalities and metro areas

#	Municipality	People	Metro area	People
1	Brussels	1,019,022	Brussels	2,402,346
2	Antwerp	529,247	Antwerp	1,880,398
3	Gent	265,086	Liège	1,164,455
4	Charleroi	200,132	Gent	939,077
5	Liège	195,278	Charleroi	936,627
6	Anderlecht	160,553	Kortrijk	668,557
7	Schaerbeek	132,761	Mons	325,484
8	Brugge	118,509	Brugge	316,900
9	Namur	110,939	Leuven	308,906
10	Leuven	101,032	Ostend	186,451

Municipalities: GeoNames, latest census or estimate. Metro areas: GHSL functional urban areas. Metro areas are named after their main municipality, which is not always the best-known name of the area.

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