Around 1 in 5 Belgian residents can’t afford a holiday

Over 1 in 5 Belgian residents (20.3%) cannot afford at least one week’s holiday away from home, according to the results of the Survey on Income and Living Conditions in 2021 (EU-SILC).

In Flanders, it is concerned 13.2% of the population, but in Wallion (30.6%) and the Brussels-Capital Region (28.2%), the rates were as high as nearly one-third of the people, stated the Belgian Statistics Office Statbel.

The office reports, based on a survey of 7,500 households states that, “The most vulnerable groups to ‘material and social deprivation are the unemployed, tenants, Belgians living in single-parent families and those on the lowest incomes.”

6.3% of the Belgian population is even faced with a situation of “severe material and social deprivation.” This is measured using a new European indicator (‘severe material and social deprivation’ or SMSD), which considers 13 material possessions or social actions. Those who cannot afford at least seven of those items for financial reasons are called “severely material and socially deprived.”

The number of people unable to cover an unexpected expense was particularly high, ranging from 14% in Flanders to 32,9% in Wallonia and even 35,7% in Brussels, reports Statbel.