Definition: social contacts are defined by the result of the European Social Survey (ESS) and more particularly by the answer "at least once a week" to the question of how often "you meet friends, family or colleagues" for social reasons (i.e. neither for work nor for pure obligation, but because the survey respondents choose to meet friends, family or colleagues; this corresponds to the original European questionnaire in English and the questionnaire in Dutch. In the French-speaking questionnaire it is only mentioned "outside work"). This question was systematically asked in the ten biennial SSE surveys. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the survey for 2020 was postponed to 2021. The indicator is calculated by the FPB on the basis of data from ESS. Since these data are collected from surveys, a margin of uncertainty must be considered. The confidence intervals for these data are available on request.

Objective: The proportion of people reporting social contacts at least once a week cannot decrease.

The sustainable development goals or SDSs adopted by the United Nations in 2015 include the following objective: "Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels" (objective 16). Social support, or having family and friends, is an important contribution to peaceful and open societies.

The Federal Long-Term Strategic Vision for Sustainable Development includes as a first challenge “A society that promotes social cohesion” (Belgian Official Gazette, 08/10/2013). To contribute to this social cohesion, it is considered that there is an implicit objective that the proportion of respondents reporting having social contacts at least once a week, as a measure of social capital, cannot decrease.

International comparison: compared to neighbouring countries, more people in Belgium (68.3% in 2021) report having social contacts at least once a week than in Germany (59.5% in 2018, no data for 2021), but less than in the Netherlands (73.2% in 2021). In France (67.8% in 2021) an equivalent number of people report having social contacts at least once a week. These proportions are broadly the same over the ten editions of the SSE. Given the subjective nature of this indicator, comparisons between countries should be interpreted with caution.

UN indicator: the selected indicator does not correspond to any monitoring indicator for the SDGs but is related to objective 16. Social support, or having family and friends, is an important contribution to peaceful and open societies.

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

  • Belgian Official Gazette: http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/welcome.pl; research on http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/doc/rech_f.htm (consulted on 24/09/2020).

More information is available in French and Dutch.