Figures released by the city authorities on Friday morning show that the population of the Flemish Brabant city of Leuven continued to grow steadily in 2025. Last year, the population that does not include the many thousands of students that there stay in digs, rose to 105,233. In 2025, the Flemish Brabant capital welcomed 11,617 new residents, while 11,196 left Leuven for pastures new.
The Leuven City Alderman Liesbeth Vandermeeren (Christian democrat) told VRT News that the increase in Leuven’s population shows how attractive the university city is.
Last year Leuven welcomed 948 new babies and more than 40 of its older residents celebrated their 100th birthday. 3 people in Leuven had their 105th birthday last year.
International and diverse
Of the just over 105,000 people in Leuven 23,703 are not Belgian nationals. A total of 159 nationalities are represented among Leuven’s population.
Among foreigners from the EU, the largest groups are the Dutch, Spanish and Italians. People from China, India and Ukraine form the largest groups of non-Belgians from outside the EU.