Belgium Population Registers

Population Registers - Introduction
Population registers [bevolkingsregisters / registres de population], in Belgium are an important source of genealogical information. They track the movement of people from one residence to another. Officially, population registers began for each municipality in 1795. Until 1920, the registers were arranged by district and each household was kept on a separate page. In 1933, a separate alien register was created. Population registers are still kept today.

Population registers should not be confused with the Census, which records the population at a point in time. Rather population registers record the population over a period as it changes.

The following details of the inhabitants may be found:


 * first and last names and sex
 * dates and places of birth
 * relation to the main occupant of the address (spouse, child or servant)
 * marital status
 * occupation
 * nationality
 * religion (sometimes missing)
 * address
 * date of arrival in the municipality and the previous residence
 * if the family moves, when and whither
 * military status

Changes (births, deaths, marriages, departures, arrivals) in a household in the course of the ten years covered by the register were added or the changed information struck out. The striking out can sometimes make it difficult to read the information struck out.

Access
Records created less than 120 years ago cannot be consulted. Extracts from the registers can be requested for genealogical purposes from the municipality. If the population registers you are seeking are not public, you may obtain an extract for a small fee. Write to the municipal administration as outlined below:

Gemeentesecretaris (Flemish) or Secrétariat communal (French) [Town] BELGIUM

Records over 120 years old are publicly available and are either available at the local gemeentearchief / archives communales or at the local branch of the National Archives. A list of the 19 branches of the National Archives can be found here.

Many of the population registers to about 1900 have been filmed by the Family History Library. Check the Place search of the catalog under:

BELGIUM, [PROVINCE], [TOWN] – POPULATION