Politics – Catius

What/where is Belgium?

Belgium is a country in Europe. It is a monarchy and a member of the European Union. The country has borders with France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Belgium on model of Earth

The country is made up of three regions which are organised and run separately. Brussels is the capital city and has its own region. Brussels is famous for being the base for the European Union, as well as other institutions like NATO.

Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium

Above is a picture of the Grand Place in Brussels, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The other two regions in Belgium are the French-speaking Wallonia, and the Dutch-speaking Flanders. The third official language is German.

The population of Belgium is just over 11 million people.

The Belgian flag.

Flag of Belgium

For more further reading, please click link below.

Wikipedia entry on Belgium

If you would like a list of facts on Belgium, please click on the link below.

Fun facts from Eupedia on Belgium

What is UNESCO?

UNESCO is part of the United Nations. Its full name is United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Its headquarters is in Paris, France and 195 countries are members.

unescologo

It’s main aim is to coordinate international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication. It hopes that this will bring together nations and societies and wants to ensure that each child has access to quality education, can fully benefit from scientific advances, can enjoy freedom of expression and can grow and live in a cultural environment rich in diversity and dialogue.

One of the main things UNESCO is known for are ‘World Heritage Sites.’ These are areas or landmarks chosen because they important for cultural, historical or scientific reasons. Once chosen, these sites are then protected under international law.

There are UNESCO World Heritage Sites all around the World.

Click on this link for the full list of sites.

If you wanted to visit a site in the United Kingdom, you have plenty of choice.

Examples in England, Stonehenge…

Stonehenge

The City of Bath…

bathpic

The Palace of Westminster…

parliament

In Northern Ireland, you have the Giant’s Causeway…

Giants Causeway on Sunny Irish Day

In Scotland, you have the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh…

edinburgh1

In Wales you have the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd…

beaumaris

The country with the most World Heritage Sites in the World is Italy, closely followed by China.

Thank you to SJR Photography for the pictures.

Are there any countries with exactly the same number of boys and girls?

Worldwide there are more boys than girls. It is believed that for every 100 girls born, 107 boys are born. Over time, the populations even out a bit due to differing factors, for example war, accidents etc.

Due to populations being measured in millions, the chance of having exactly the same number of each is highly unlikely. Studies over the years have seen some trends in certain parts for the world. Caribbean countries like Barbados, Haiti and Aruba have tended to have more girls than boys. China and India tend to have more boys than girls. Central African countries like Zambia and DPR Congo tend to have a split closer to 50/50.

Six happy children

Click here for more in depth reading from Science ABC

For a video explanation, please see below.

What is the European Union(EU)?

The European Union is a group of 28 countries that have joined together in an economic and political union. The aims of this union are to improve the lives of its 500 million citizens by pooling resources and laws into an internal single market. They share laws and some of the countries even share a currency (19 member states use the EURO). In parts of Europe (the Schengen Area) there is an agreement that people can travel between member states without having to cross formal passport controls.

The current 28 member states are:

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Malta

Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

For some further reading and some fun games and quizzes click here