Security feeling in public spaces (i79)
- 31/10/2025
- objective
- assessment assessment
In 2023, 78.1% of the population aged 15 and over in Belgium felt safe in public spaces. To achieve the sustainable development goal by 2030, this figure must increase. Between 2002 and 2023, the trend is undetermined (assessment of November 2025).
Security feeling in public spaces - Belgium and international comparison
'very safe' and 'safe'
percentage of population aged 15 and over
| 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2021 | 2023 | 2023//2002 | 2023//2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 76.2 | 76.5 | 78.8 | 80.4 | 81.0 | 80.7 | 78.7 | 81.4 | 81.8 | 84.0 | 78.1 | 0.1 | -0.6 |
| Germany | 73.7 | 73.4 | 76.1 | 76.9 | 76.8 | 77.1 | 76.9 | 72.7 | 74.4 | 64.0 | 74.8 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| France | 68.5 | 72.8 | 73.1 | 74.8 | 73.1 | 73.1 | 72.3 | 74.9 | 75.7 | 75.5 | 73.5 | 0.3 | -0.3 |
| Netherlands | 81.5 | 83.0 | 82.8 | 81.9 | 84.2 | 86.2 | 84.7 | 85.0 | 86.2 | 87.6 | 87.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| //: 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)
Security feeling in public spaces by sex - Belgium
'very safe' and 'safe'
percentage of population aged 15 and over
| 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2021 | 2023 | 2023//2002 | 2023//2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| females | 68.7 | 67.2 | 69.3 | 72.3 | 72.5 | 72.7 | 69.6 | 71.0 | 73.9 | 76.8 | 67.5 | -0.1 | -0.7 |
| males | 84.5 | 86.4 | 88.8 | 88.9 | 89.9 | 89.1 | 88.6 | 92.2 | 89.9 | 91.5 | 89.1 | 0.3 | -0.5 |
| //: 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)
Security feeling in public spaces by income - Belgium
'very safe' and 'safe'
percentage of population aged 15 and over
| 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2021 | 2023 | 2023//2010 | 2023//2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| quintile 1 | 65.9 | 64.6 | 75.2 | 73.6 | 70.7 | 62.0 | 71.9 | 0.7 | -0.3 |
| quintile 2 | 77.0 | 75.9 | 76.5 | 77.7 | 80.5 | 80.7 | 71.1 | -0.6 | -1.3 |
| quintile 3 | 82.2 | 82.8 | 77.6 | 78.3 | 78.7 | 89.1 | 79.3 | -0.3 | 0.2 |
| quintile 4 | 84.8 | 86.9 | 83.0 | 87.7 | 85.5 | 87.0 | 82.7 | -0.2 | -0.8 |
| quintile 5 | 89.5 | 89.5 | 85.3 | 90.3 | 92.3 | 90.1 | 87.0 | -0.2 | -0.5 |
| //: 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: the security feeling in public spaces is the share of respondents of the European Social Survey (ESS) that answered "very safe" or "safe" to the following question: “How safe do you – or would you - feel walking alone in this area after dark?”. This question was covered in each of the eleven biannual ESS surveys. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the survey for 2020 was postponed to 2021. The FPB calculates the indicator using the ESS data. Since these data are based on a survey, a margin of uncertainty has to be taken into account. The confidence intervals for these data are available on request.
The following breakdowns are available for this indicator: region and income.
Goal: the security feeling of the population in public spaces must increase.
The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 16.1: “Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere”.
UN indicator: the selected indicator corresponds to indicator 16.1.4 - Proportion of population that feel safe walking alone around the area they live.
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