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*Belgo-Congolese, Belgo-Rwandans and Belgo-Burundians, with some 110,000 people now living in Belgium, are the third largest population group stemming from immigration from outside the European Union. Migrations from Congo, Rwanda and Burundi to Belgium are recent and are the result of initiatives by individuals or families: to study, rejoin their families or escape from conflicts. | *Belgo-Congolese, Belgo-Rwandans and Belgo-Burundians, with some 110,000 people now living in Belgium, are the third largest population group stemming from immigration from outside the European Union. Migrations from Congo, Rwanda and Burundi to Belgium are recent and are the result of initiatives by individuals or families: to study, rejoin their families or escape from conflicts. | ||
*Belgo-Congolese, Belgo-Rwandan and Belgo-Burundian people have come to live permanently in Belgium. The fact that they are becoming more anchored in society is evidenced by the improved social inclusion of second generation Afro-descendants who were born and socialized in Belgium. <ref>"Belgo-Congolese, Belgo-Rwandans and Belgo-Burundians: facing discrimination despite a long shared history", at the King Baudouin Foundation, https://www.kbs-frb.be/en/Newsroom/Press-releases/2017/20171122AJ, accessed 5 May 2021.</ref> | *Belgo-Congolese, Belgo-Rwandan and Belgo-Burundian people have come to live permanently in Belgium. The fact that they are becoming more anchored in society is evidenced by the improved social inclusion of second generation Afro-descendants who were born and socialized in Belgium. <ref>"Belgo-Congolese, Belgo-Rwandans and Belgo-Burundians: facing discrimination despite a long shared history", at the King Baudouin Foundation, https://www.kbs-frb.be/en/Newsroom/Press-releases/2017/20171122AJ, accessed 5 May 2021.</ref> | ||
===Moroccans in Belgium=== | |||
*'''Moroccans''' and people of Moroccan descent, who come from various ethnic groups, form a distinct community in Belgium and part of the wider Moroccan diaspora. They represent the largest non-European immigrant population in Belgium and are widely referred to as '''Belgo-Marocains in French and Belgische Marokkanen in Dutch'''. | |||
*There has been a Moroccan presence in Belgium since 1912 when France began recruiting workers from its North African colonies as immigrant workers, allowing some to cross into Belgium. At the time, Morocco possessed a largely agrarian economy and labour migration was attractive to many young men. There were thought to be 6,000 Moroccans living in Belgium by 1930, predominantly in industrial towns in Wallonia. | |||
*Belgium's economic recovery in the aftermath of World War II was based the rapid revival of coal mining and heavy industry which experienced an acute shortage of labour. The Belgian government created various guest worker programs aimed at encouraging workers to travel to Belgium on work contracts. A guest worker agreement was signed with Morocco on 17 August 1964. This made Morocco the first North African state to make such an agreement with Belgium. In following years significant numbers of Moroccan workers, mainly single men, were recruited for work in Belgium. The program was cancelled in August 1974 amid the fall in demand created by the 1973–1975 recession. However, the spread of family reunification and high birth rates led to the rapid expansion of the community after the scheme's abolition. | |||
*In following years, there was also immigration into Belgium from students and political dissidents opposed to the regime of King Hassan II. | |||
*In Belgium, the number of people of Moroccan origin (at least one parent born with Moroccan nationality) was 430,000 as of 1 January 2012, or about 4% of the country's population. This proportion is 6.7% for those under 15 years of age. This figure has more than doubled in 20 years. With a percentage of 4%, the Moroccan population (counting the Belgians of Moroccan origin) has the highest percentage in Europe among Moroccans residing abroad. | |||
,ref>"Moroccans in Belgium", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccans_in_Belgium, accessed 5 May 2021.</ref> | |||
==For Further Reading== | ==For Further Reading== | ||