The Verviers District
East of Belgium it borders on Germany and The Netherlands
(three borders zone); the District of Verviers reaches on the West to the urban
area of Liège and on the East to the German community area (Eupen - St
Vith).
Its territory spread over 1162 Km2 for
a population of +/- 200 000 souls. The county town (Verviers-Pepinster-Dison)
with 70 000 inhabitants, is head of that semi-rural District. Besides the cities
of Verviers, Spa, Stavelot and Malmedy, it encompasses also fourteen villages,
more rural and touristic.
The lines of communications (roads, highways, rail) are numerous and favour
the mobility across the District.
Foreigners are mostly present in Verviers with over 10 % of the population:
they are predominantly Turks and Moroccans.
Verviers is an ancient wool-producing city where the expert manpower (be Belgian
or foreigner) has had difficulty retraining which resulted in an under-privilegied
circle: some remnants of the wool-industry still exist in the Vesdre valley.