Meeting with friends and family (i76)
- 31/10/2025
- objective
- assessment
In 2023, 66.6% of the Belgian population aged 15 and over reported to meet at least once a week friends, relatives or colleagues. To achieve the sustainable development goal by 2030, this figure must not decrease. Between 2002 and 2023, the trend is favourable (assessment of November 2025).
Meeting with friends and family - Belgium and international comparison
at least once a week
percentage of population aged 15 and over
| 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2021 | 2023 | 2023//2002 | 2023//2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 67.7 | 71.1 | 68.9 | 69.0 | 70.7 | 65.2 | 68.0 | 67.8 | 68.2 | 68.3 | 66.6 | -0.1 | -0.2 |
| Germany | 59.9 | 52.5 | 56.1 | 56.3 | 60.2 | 58.0 | 55.4 | 59.5 | 59.5 | 47.9 | 58.5 | -0.1 | -0.3 |
| France | 66.6 | 67.0 | 66.2 | 67.8 | 65.3 | 67.2 | 65.2 | 69.8 | 67.7 | 67.8 | 71.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Netherlands | 71.9 | 73.6 | 77.9 | 76.9 | 75.2 | 76.7 | 73.9 | 79.0 | 74.9 | 73.2 | 75.2 | 0.2 | -0.7 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | |||||||||||||
Source: Calculations FPB based on ESS (2025), Dataset European Social Survey, http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/, last update of data 02/06/2025 (consulted on 01/10/2025)
Meeting with friends and family by sex - Belgium
at least once a week
percentage of population aged 15 and over
| 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2021 | 2023 | 2023//2002 | 2023//2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| females | 67.8 | 71.3 | 69.4 | 67.4 | 70.2 | 66.3 | 67.8 | 69.0 | 68.5 | 68.9 | 66.6 | -0.1 | -0.5 |
| males | 67.6 | 70.9 | 68.3 | 70.7 | 71.3 | 63.9 | 68.2 | 66.6 | 67.9 | 67.7 | 66.7 | -0.1 | 0.0 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | |||||||||||||
Source: Calculations FPB based on ESS (2025), Dataset European Social Survey, http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/, last update of data 02/06/2025 (consulted on 01/10/2025)
Meeting with friends and family by income - Belgium
at least once a week
percentage of population aged 15 and over
| 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2021 | 2023 | 2023//2010 | 2023//2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| quintile 1 | 65.2 | 66.2 | 66.8 | 64.9 | 68.4 | 63.0 | 59.9 | -0.6 | -1.1 |
| quintile 2 | 71.2 | 64.0 | 64.9 | 62.2 | 66.8 | 70.6 | 60.5 | -1.2 | -0.4 |
| quintile 3 | 67.9 | 63.6 | 65.8 | 62.4 | 63.6 | 64.9 | 59.6 | -1.0 | -0.6 |
| quintile 4 | 70.0 | 67.7 | 67.1 | 73.2 | 70.0 | 68.0 | 74.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
| quintile 5 | 74.5 | 64.5 | 66.0 | 77.5 | 72.6 | 72.8 | 73.3 | -0.1 | -0.8 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | |||||||||
Source: Calculations FPB based on ESS (2025), Dataset European Social Survey, http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/, last update of data 02/06/2025 (consulted on 01/10/2025)
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 eleven 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.
The following breakdowns are available for this indicator: region and income.
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.
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
At www.indicators.be the Federal Planning Bureau presents sustainable development indicators.
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