Elio Di Rupo was born on 18 July 1951 in Morlanwelz. His father was killed in a road accident in July 1952. His mother had to raise a family of seven children all by herself. Owing to his humble background, he realised very early on how very important education was for building a future. His educational accomplishments enabled him to complete a doctoral degree in science at Mons University. He went on to become a Lecture Member of Staff at Leeds University in the United Kingdom.

During the course of his academic career, the young Elio Di Rupo began to experience a political awakening. He became an active member of the Socialist Party (PS), where his humanist ideals of social justice and individual freedom are reflected.

His political career got underway in 1982, when he became a municipal councillor in Mons, the city in which he set up the International Festival of Love Films. He became an Alderman in 1986.

He was elected as Member of Parliament for the Mons-Borinage district in 1987, holding onto this seat until 1989, when he became a Member of the European Parliament.

After becoming a Senator in 1991, he took up his first ministerial post one year later, when the PS assigned him the challenging task of overseeing the French-speaking Community's Ministry of Education (1992-1994) and Audiovisual Policy (1993-1994).

His success in managing education policymaking led to his appointment, in 1994, as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communications and Public Undertakings.

During the formation of the following government, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Economy and Telecommunications. Halfway through 1998 he was also put in charge of Foreign Trade.

In the wake of the 1999 elections he was one of the key negotiators of the new "Rainbow" government agreements. Once the negotiations were completed he became Minister-President of the Walloon Region. He then rounded off a few months of hard work with the development of the "Contract for the Future of Wallonia": a 10-year programme in which all the Region's key entities are focused on the ambitious goal of promoting economic and social development.

He was elected to become President of the PS in October 1999 thanks to the general vote of its members. He ousted the three other candidates, winning 71% of the 40,000 votes, whereupon he resigned as regional Minister-President in order to focus on the task of transforming and modernising the Party.

He has served as Vice-President of the Socialist International since November 1999.

Subsequent to the municipal elections in October 2000, he was elected by a very healthy majority to become the Mayor of Mons.

Serving as Minister of State since 2002, he also represented Belgium in the context of the European Convention created to prepare the Constitution of the European Union.

In February 2003, he published "Le Progrès partagé", a think-piece summing up the work the active members of the PS and very many progressive sympathisers undertook during a 500-day period, against the background of the "Ateliers du Progrès", in order to take a fresh look at the socialist message. Accordingly, the PS embraced a brand-new project open to all sides of the left-wing spectrum, and with more young people and women in its midst.

This substantive work was rewarded by the outcome of the 18 May 2003 parliamentary elections, when the PS achieved a huge leap forward both in Brussels and Wallonia, thereby consolidating its position as the leading French-speaking party. This was the first time that a party in power had achieved such progress.

Elected as a Member of Parliament, Elio Di Rupo was appointed as "Informateur" (someone who prepares for a "formateur", the person who leads the formation of a coalition government) by the King, on 21 May 2003. He held a series consultations with the entire range of civil society organisations before handing the Head of State a detailed report, called "A creative and solidarity-based Belgium ". This text was used as a starting point for the negotiations that led to the formation of the new "purple" coalition between the socialists and liberals, in July 2003.

Elio Di Rupo was re-elected as President of the PS on 28 September 2003, winning 94% of the votes cast.

In September 2005, he was one of the main sponsors of the "Marshall Plan" for Wallonia, which was designed to step up the efforts taken to put the Region back on the track to prosperity. On 6 October 2005, he became Minister-President of the Walloon Region once again. He retained his Presidency of the PS, and was therefore disqualified from acting as Mayor of the City of Mons, owing to an accumulation of responsibilities.

In July 2007, after being re-elected head of the PS, with over 89% of the votes cast, he resigned from his post as Minister-President of the Walloon Region for the benefit of Rudy Demotte and became the fully-fledged Mayor of Mons once again.

He was elected as Vice-President of the Socialist International in 2007.
In June 2010, the federal elections marked a huge success for the PS in the French-speaking Community and the NVA nationalists in the Flemish Community. The King appointed Elio Di Rupo as "Préformateur" (to explore the feasibility of forming a government) but it was apparently impossible to work out an agreement. Belgium then entered the longest crisis in the country's entire history.

Early in the summer of 2011, Elio Di Rupo was nonetheless appointed as Formateur and he managed to gather a sufficient number of parties around the table to achieve a major state reform. This gradually took shape in a constructive atmosphere, where confidence was restored between the partners.

On 12 October, in his capacity as Formateur, Elio Di Rupo, together with the eight parties involved in the discussions (PS, MR, CDH, Ecolo, CD&V, Open VLD, SP.A and Groen !), was at last in a position to present the sixth institutional reform, one of the most important ones that Belgium has ever known. The much-talked-about BHV district is due to be divided, with the basic rights of French-speakers in the Brussels periphery being consolidated, while the Regions and Communities are set to receive major new powers and the related resources to enable them to conduct policies that are closer to the people and situations encountered in the field.

Elio Di Rupo became Prime Minister of Belgium on the 5 December 2011.