The Project Area - East Flanders
Flanders is the northern part of Belgium. Institutionally it is the federal state of Belgium that contains the Dutch-speaking population. Flanders has over 6 million inhabitants, who make up around 58% of the Belgian population. They live in an area covering 40% of the Belgian national territory.
East Flanders is one of the five provinces of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the North) on the Netherlands and in Belgium on the provinces of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant (both in Flanders), Hainaut (Wallonia) and West Flanders (Flanders).
It has an area of 2.982 km2, and is home to 1.4 million people. With 472 inhabitants per km2, it is one of the most densely populated areas of Europe. East Flanders lies close to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and Flanders, and at the same time the political decision-making centre of the European Union. The capital and biggest city of the east Flanders province, Ghent has 237,250 inhabitants.
East Flanders has two sea ports: the port of Ghent and the Waaslandhaven, which is the growth zone of the port of Antwerp. The Ghent-Terneuzen canal connects the port of Ghent with the Westerschelde and the North Sea. Various domestic and international inland waterway connections are accessible via the River Schelde, the River Leie and the Ringvaart.
