Finding your Belgian ancestors

First, find the commune: before and after the 1977 mergers

Belgian records are filed by commune (commune in French, gemeente in Dutch, Gemeinde in German). Before you search, you need three things: the name of the commune as it was when your ancestor lived there, the commune it belongs to today, and its province.

The 1977 mergers. Since 1796 many communes have been merged or split and their boundaries changed. The largest change came in 1977, when the communes were merged (fusion des communes): the State Archives give the number as falling from 2,359 to 589. Mergers have continued since. Bastogne and Bertogne merged on 2 December 2024, and on 1 January 2025, 28 Flemish communes merged into 13. Flanders now has 285 cities and communes, Wallonia 261 and the Brussels-Capital Region 19. Your ancestor's village is therefore often part of a larger commune with another name.

Search under the old name. The State Archives' online search for genealogical sources, Agatha, uses the communes as they were before the 1977 merger. Look for your ancestor's village under its own name, not under today's commune. To write to a town hall you need today's commune: the Flemish government lists the 285 Flemish cities and communes, and the Union of Walloon Cities and Communes has a page for each Walloon commune.

Provinces and languages.

The nine German-speaking communes are Eupen, Kelmis, Lontzen, Raeren, Amel, Büllingen, Burg-Reuland, Bütgenbach and Sankt Vith. The Belgian province of Luxembourg is not the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. FamilySearch notes that records are mainly in Dutch in the north, in French in the south and in German in the east.

Civil registers (état civil, burgerlijke stand) since 1796

The French Republic took over the country in 1795 and 1796 and brought in civil registration (état civil in French, burgerlijke stand in Dutch). The State Archives date the civil register from 1795 and put their online records from 1796; city registers generally begin around 1797, and those of most rural communes only in 1802. FamilySearch notes that the first records were written in French and dated by the French Revolutionary Calendar.

Two copies, and ten-year indexes. Each register was kept in two copies. One stayed at the commune; the other went to the clerk of the court of first instance (greffe du tribunal de première instance) and was later transferred to the State Archives. Each year an alphabetical index was drawn up, and the court combined them into ten-year tables (tables décennales, tienjarige tafels) for 1851-1860, 1861-1870 and so on. The tables are not always in strict alphabetical order, but they are the quickest way to find an entry.

Free online. More than 36,000 civil registers, from 1796 to 1920, are online on Agatha, the State Archives' search site. For most communes, records and indexes are available up to 1920. Viewing is free, but you must register (also free) and log in before the images appear. The registers of 1910 to 1950 have been digitised since 2022 at the State Archives in Mons, Beveren and Leuven, and are not yet online. FamilySearch has free images by province, for example Brabant, 1582-1950.

When a record becomes public. Since 1 January 2025, under the law of 13 September 2023, a birth record is public after 100 years, and a marriage or death record after 75 years. For deaths this applies at least to records drawn up before 31 March 2019; before 2025 the limit for deaths was 50 years, as some older official pages still say. The State Archives note that marriage and death records more than 75 years old that are not yet online must for now be consulted at the commune.

Since 2019. On 31 March 2019 Belgium moved to a national database of civil records (BAEC, DABS in Dutch). A record in it can be issued by any Belgian commune. An older record must first be added to the database by the commune that drew it up.

Before 1796: parish registers

From the 16th century the clergy had to record baptisms, marriages and burials. Most registers only begin between 1610 and 1630, and many have been lost. The State Archives' parish registers cover 1580 to 1796.

All the parish registers kept in the State Archives' repositories have been digitised: more than 28,000 registers, up to 1796, are on Agatha, free once you have registered. Choose the commune (under its name before 1977), then the parish. FamilySearch's index Belgium, Births and Baptisms, 1560-1890 covers only a few places, with periods varying by place.

Population registers from 1846

From 1846, and in the large cities from the French period, each commune took a census every ten years and wrote the results in a population register (registre de population, bevolkingsregister), kept up to date for the next ten years. Name indexes help you find people in it.

Street by street and house by house, the register lists everyone living under the same roof: name, sex, place and date of birth, relationship to the head of the household, nationality, occupation, civil status, the dates a person was entered and struck off, the previous and current address, the date and place of death, and military service status. For an emigrant family, the date they were struck off may help date their departure.

Access. The State Archives say population registers are public only after 120 years. Registers closed more than 120 years ago can be consulted in the reading rooms of the State Archives. Access to the 20 reading rooms (Brussels; Arlon, Eupen, Liège, Louvain-la-Neuve, Mons, Namur and Tournai in Wallonia; Antwerp, Beveren, Bruges, Kortrijk, Ghent, Hasselt and Leuven in Flanders) has been free since 1 June 2018. Except at the National Archives in Brussels, book your seat at least two working days ahead. For newer registers, ask the commune: the rules of the commune of Wielsbeke (2021), for example, allow a third party to consult a register closed less than 120 years ago only with the written consent of the person concerned.

Newer records: ask the commune

For a record that is not online, ask the civil registry (service de l'état civil, dienst burgerlijke stand) of the commune.

Copy or extract. A copy (copie, afschrift) gives the original details of the record and the person's later changes of status. An extract (extrait, uittreksel) gives only the current details. For family history, ask for a copy.

Who may ask.

• Anyone, once a birth record is more than 100 years old, or a marriage or death record more than 75.
• For a newer record, the Flemish government's portal lists the person concerned, their legal representative, and people who show a legitimate interest: a spouse, surviving spouse or legal cohabitant, blood relatives in the first degree in the direct line (parents and children), and heirs. The Walloon portal lists the person concerned, their spouse or legal cohabitant, their legal representative, their ascendants or descendants, their notary and lawyer, and their heirs.
• Anyone may get an extract of a death record.

Fees. The Walloon portal says a commune may charge a fee of 1 to 5 euros. A legalisation or apostille for use abroad costs 25 euros per document. Searches by commune staff are charged separately by some communes: Wielsbeke's 2021 rules charge 10 euros for each half hour begun.

Where. A record drawn up since 31 March 2019, or already added to the national database, can be issued by any Belgian commune. An older one is held by the commune that drew it up. In the City of Brussels, copies of records that are not yet public are requested by e-mail from the civil registry, etatcivil@brucity.be.

From abroad. Belgian consulates handle civil records only for Belgian citizens: people without Belgian nationality must write directly to the commune.

The State Archives. Online viewing is free. For research done by staff, the State Archives charge 77.20 euros an hour (2026 price list), billed by the quarter hour.

Emigrants: where they went and how they were counted

FamilySearch notes that “America fever” struck a number of towns in Brabant and Namur in the 1850s, and that Belgians in Wisconsin settled mainly around Green Bay, in Door, Brown and Kewaunee counties. For Canada it notes that free farmland was the main attraction after 1859, and that emigration was encouraged to the French-speaking Catholic communities of Quebec and Manitoba.

The official tables shown on this site's map count:

The Canadian table (1955 to 2013) counts Belgium under “Other Europe”, and the Brazilian table (1884 to 1958) under “other nationalities”, so neither gives a separate figure.

Figures: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2019, table 2; Argentina, Dirección General de Inmigración, Resumen estadístico del movimiento migratorio, 1857-1924 (1925) and the 1904 report; Australian Government, Department of Home Affairs, Historical Migration Statistics (November 2025); Quebec immigration ministry (MIFI), permanent immigration tables 2013-2024; INSEE, retrospective census tables; Historical Statistics of Switzerland online, table B.21. Each country uses its own definitions: compare with care.

Look first for the arrival record in the country where your ancestor landed: it often names the village. Then check the population register of that village for the family's departure.

Writing to the commune or the State Archives

First look for the record on Agatha: most civil records up to 1920 and all surviving parish registers are there, free after registration. For a later record, or one that is not online, write to the civil registry (service de l'état civil) of today's commune that includes your ancestor's village, and ask for a copy (copie) of the birth, marriage or death record, not an extract. Give the full name, the date, the old commune and the parents' names. Births more than 100 years old and marriages and deaths more than 75 are public, so anyone may ask; for a newer record, say how you are related and offer proof. Ask the fee and how to pay it from abroad: consulates do not act for people who are not Belgian citizens. In the City of Brussels, write to etatcivil@brucity.be.

Which language. Write in the language of the commune. Communes in Flanders work in Dutch: use our Dutch letter, addressed to the gemeente, dienst burgerlijke stand. The nine communes of the German-speaking area (Eupen, Kelmis, Lontzen, Raeren, Amel, Büllingen, Burg-Reuland, Bütgenbach, Sankt Vith) work in German. For Wallonia and Brussels, write your letter in French with our free generator.

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Sources