Somewhat in the way that the City of London is different from London, the City of Brussels is different from Brussels. However, the expansion of the City was frozen at a later stage than the City of London, so that in addition to the old centre of Brussels, the towns of Haren, Laeken and Neder-Over-Heembeek to the north, and Avenue Louise and the Bois de la Cambre park to the south, are included as its shown in Brussels city map.

 

On 1 January 2006, the City of Brussels had a total population of 144,784. The total area is 32.61 km² which gives a population density of 4,440 inhabitants per km² as its mentioned in Brussels city map. As of 2007, there were approximately 50,000 registered non-Belgians in the City of Brussels. However, although the City of Brussels is the official capital, the funds delegated by the federation and region for the representative role of the capital are divided among the 19 municipalities and, in practice, national Belgian institutions are indeed located not only in the City of Brussels, although many are, but also in most of the other 18 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital region.