In the context of the quarterly monitoring of personal well-being and living conditions, Statbel interviewed some 5,000 Belgians aged 16 to 74. In the fourth quarter of 2024:

• 8.7% felt always or usually lonely,
• 64.8% felt always or usually happy,
• 39.5% found it very difficult, difficult or rather difficult to make ends meet,
• 55% reported a high degree of general life satisfaction,
• 68.8% reported a high degree of satisfaction with personal relationships,
• 39.3% reported a high degree of satisfaction with their financial situation,
• 16.9% said their income was higher than last year, and 73.9% said their income was more or less the same as last year.

Compared to the previous quarter, we notice that loneliness increased from 6.7% to 8.7% and that happiness fell from 67.5% to 64.8%.

Belgians are most satisfied with their personal relationships

Respondents were asked to give a score out of ten to their financial situation, their personal relationships and their general life satisfaction. In the fourth quarter of 2024, personal relationships score the highest on average: 7.8/10. It is followed by general life satisfaction with 7.4/10 and financial situation with 6.9/10.

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. A quarter of Belgians (25.7%) are in this situation in the fourth quarter of 2024. The indicator shows clear differences between social groups, and these remain fairly stable in the last 14 quarters.  The lowest general satisfaction is found among the unemployed and the long-term sick. Conversely, we see a high level of general satisfaction among the highest income group and highly-skilled people.