A summary of the Taalbarometer survey on languages in Brussels
The VUB/BRIO Taalbarometer is a representative, scientific survey. It has been conducted five times since 2001, and the latest fieldwork happened in 2024 and was published in 2025 (Taalbarometer 5).
The Evolution of Contact Languages (2001 - 2024)
French, English, and Dutch are the three primary contact languages of the region. The survey tracks the self-reported percentage of residents who speak them 'good to excellent' over five editions:
- French: French remains the city's primary lingua franca at 81%, but it has declined steadily from 96% in 2001.
- English: English has experienced spectacular growth, rising to 47% in 2024 to become the second most-known language in Brussels.
- Dutch: Dutch has recorded a historic turnaround, rebounding from a low of 16% in 2018 up to 22% in 2024, driven by strong youth and educational presence.
Contact Languages Trends (2001 - 2024)
A 20-Year Contrast: 2001 to 2024
Comparing the first survey (2001) to the latest (2024) shows the scale of the transition: French declined from 96% to 81%, Dutch fell from 33% to 22% (after hitting a low of 16%), and English surged from 33% to 47%. Spanish rose from 7% to 15%, Arabic rose from 10% to 12%, and Turkish remains a major community language at 3%. Trilingualism fell from 16% to 13%, and the group speaking neither Dutch, English nor French grew from 3% to 11%.
Language Combinations & The Inclusion Gap
As a multilingual hub, Brussels residents combine multiple contact languages. The 2024 distribution shows unique dynamics, but also highlights a critical exclusion gap:
- Dominant Combos: The French + English bilingual combination is the most prevalent at 27%.
- Inclusion Gap: A growing group of 11% speak neither Dutch, English nor French at a good level, indicating rising vulnerability to social and institutional exclusion.
- Trilingualism: Trilingualism in French, Dutch, and English has doubled to 13% compared to 2018, though it remains below its 2001 peak (16%).
Contact Language Combinations in 2024
Self-Perception of Linguistic Identity
Beyond objective language skills, the survey asks residents how they identify their own linguistic background:
- Monolingual Stability: The share of self-identified Monolinguals has stabilized at 26%.
- Multilingual Shift: Multilingual self-identification has risen to 38%, becoming the largest group.
- Traditional Decline: Traditional French-Dutch bilingual identity has declined to 10%, replaced by international bilingual combinations (26%).
Self-Perceived Linguistic Identity in 2024
The Long Tail of Languages
In the 2024 survey, 104 distinct languages were spoken by residents. Outside the contact languages, Spanish (15%) and Arabic (12%) are established as major community languages, followed by Italian (6%), German (6%), Portuguese (3%), Turkish (3%), and Romanian (2%). Minor European and international languages like Polish (1%), Greek (1%), and Lingala (1%) continue to maintain a visible presence of over 1% of the population.
A City of Changing Home Languages
TB5 reveals a profound shift in the home language backgrounds of Brussels residents — a diversification that is reshaping the city's linguistic foundation:
- 32% of residents grew up in a household where neither Dutch nor French was spoken — up from roughly 20% in 2001.
- A quarter of the youngest generation (18–30) grew up in a non-contact-language household, signalling a generational break from the traditional French-Dutch dynamic.
- The share of residents growing up in households mixing French with another language is rising across all age groups — including in families that would previously have been considered purely Francophone.
A Generational Divide
The evolution of language knowledge is not uniform across age groups. TB5 reveals starkly different trajectories between generations:
- French knowledge has declined fastest among the under-30s, dropping by nearly 12 percentage points compared to older cohorts.
- The Dutch recovery is driven primarily by younger residents and is now more evenly distributed across age groups than in any previous edition.
- English is by far the strongest in the youngest age groups, but has also gained ground in older cohorts — pointing to an ongoing internationalization of the city.
- English is primarily a school-acquired language in Brussels: its spread reflects the city's educational system more than its immigration patterns.
Language in Public Life
The survey also examines how residents navigate language in key public settings — from healthcare to civil services:
- 75% of Brussels residents speak French exclusively with their GP. However, Dutch involvement in healthcare conversations has grown from 6.7% in 2001 to nearly 19% in 2024.
- Dutch-speaking residents are notably more linguistically assertive with civil servants than before: the share immediately switching to French when addressed dropped from 90% (TB4) to 58% (TB5).
- 55.7% of contractual appointments in Brussels municipalities were suspended in 2023 for violating language legislation — highlighting the ongoing gap between institutional obligation and daily reality.
Survey Methodology
The survey measures self-reported language skills, defining 'knowledge' as the ability to speak a language 'good to excellent'. The 2024 edition (TB5) analyzed a representative sample of 2,500 adult Brussels residents, weighting findings to match census demographics.
Original Source & Citation
- Authors: Mathis Saeys, Robin Simon, Dimokritos Kavadias
- Publisher: Uitgeverij Academia Press (Lannoo), Ghent, 2025.
- Study commissioned and supported by the Flemish Government.