Since the third quarter of 2021, Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, asks every quarter some 5,000 Belgians aged 16 to 74 about their personal well-being and living conditions. In the fourth quarter of 2023:

• 62.3% of Belgians felt always or usually happy,
• 8% of Belgians felt always or usually lonely,
• 42.4% of Belgians found it very difficult, difficult or rather difficult to make ends meet,
• 52.9% of Belgians declared having a high degree of general life satisfaction,
• 66.6% of Belgians reported having a high degree of satisfaction with personal relationships,
• 35.5% of Belgians declared having a high degree of satisfaction with financial situation,
• 22.6% of Belgians stated that they have a higher income than the previous year and 66.6% having a more or less equal income compared to the previous year.

62.3% of Belgians felt always (8%) or usually (54.3%) happy. The decrease is significant compared to the third quarter where it amounted to 66.6%, also the lowest percentage since the beginning of this survey in the third quarter of 2021.

Young people (16-24 years old) appear being the happiest population group in general (71% in the fourth quarter of 2023), unlike people aged 65 to 74 years old (57.3%). The decrease in feeling of happiness is pronounced for the 25-49-year-olds where it goes down from 66.9% in the 3rd quarter 2023 to 62.6% in the 4th quarter of 2023, also from 66% to 59.9% for the 50-54-year-olds and from 62.8% to 57.3% for the 65-74-year-olds. The decrease is also sharper among women (from 67.6% to 61.3%) than men (from 65.7% to 63.2%).