In a quarterly monitoring of personal well-being and living conditions, Statbel interviews each quarter some 5,000 Belgians aged 16 to 74[1]. We inquire about (the reason for) changes in income, subjective poverty, general life satisfaction, feelings of loneliness, happiness, satisfaction with financial situation and personal relationships. This shows that in 2024, 23.8% of the population experienced a high level of satisfaction, i.e. they gave a score of 8/10 or more for general life satisfaction, financial situation and personal relationships.
In 2024:
- 8.5% felt always or usually lonely,
- 65.8% felt always or usually happy,
- 38% found it very difficult, difficult or rather difficult to make ends meet,
- 19.8% said their income was higher than last year, and 70.3% said their income was more or less the same as last year,
- 54.5%reported a high degree of general life satisfaction,
- 67.8% reported a high degree of satisfaction with personal relationships,
- 37.4% reported a high degree of satisfaction with their financial situation.
High degree of satisfaction
Those who gave 8/10 or more to general life satisfaction, financial satisfaction and personal relationships belong to the most satisfied group. More than one in five Belgians were in this situation in 2022 (21.5%), in 2023 (22.9%) and in 2024 (23.8%). The indicator shows clear differences between social groups, and these remain fairly stable in the last 3 years. The lowest general satisfaction is among the long-term sick and the unemployed. Conversely, we see a high level of general satisfaction among the highest income group and highly-skilled people. We also observe significantly higher general satisfaction among couples (with and without children) compared to single persons (with and without children) and households in other situations.
A high level of satisfaction means a score of 8, 9 or 10 for general life satisfaction, satisfaction with financial situation and satisfaction with personal relationships.
[1] The original figures are calculated and published on a quarterly basis. Statbel now also publishes annual results. To compile the annual figures, a recalculation with adjusted weights has been carried out.