Definition: the share of the population aged 16 and over that reports being more or less severely restricted in their usual activities due to a health problem. The data come from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) survey. The limitation in question must have been felt at least during the six months preceding the survey. The participants have a choice between three answers to the question on this limitation: not at all limited, limited, but not severely, or severely limited. The last two answers are added for this indicator. Statistics Belgium organises this EU-harmonised survey in Belgium and makes the results available, in particular to Eurostat. The data used here for Belgium come directly from Statistics Belgium and the data used for comparison with the rest of the EU come from Eurostat. Since these data are based on surveys, a margin of uncertainty must be taken into account. The confidence intervals for these data are available on request from Statistics Belgium.

From 2019 onwards, the survey methodology has been thoroughly reviewed for better accuracy. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted data collection. This makes it difficult to compare the results of SILC 2020 with those of previous years. (Statbel, 2021). Therefore, they are not used to calculate and evaluate the long-term trend.

Goal: the share of the population aged 16 and over that reports being limited in their usual activities due to a health problem must decrease.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include goal 3: "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages". Not having limitations in usual activities contributes to health and well-being.

International comparison: the share of the population that reports being limited in their usual activities in 2022 is almost equal in Belgium (25.6%) and in the EU27 (27.0%). When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group that has average performance and outperforms the European average in 2022. In that year, Bulgaria ranked first with 14.6% and Latvia last with 38.5%.

UN indicator: the selected indicator does not correspond to any monitoring indicator for the SDGs but is related to objective 3 since the absence of limitation in daily activities is a measure of the overall health of the population.

Sources

• General

  • SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.

  • Indicators: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.

  • UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

  • UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

• Specific

  • Statbel (2021), SILC FAQ, https://statbel.fgov.be/fr/themes/menages/pauvrete-et-conditions-de-vie/faq, see in particular "Y a-t-il des ruptures de séries dans la chronologie de l'enquête SILC ?" (consulted on 19/11/2021)

More information is available in French and Dutch.