What do we see?
In 2020 there were 2,845,252 households in Flanders, 912,371 of which were made up of one person and 1,932,881 of several people. This is an overall increase of 4% compared to 2015, and also shows that more housing units (about 110,270) are needed compared to a few years ago. This increase can be explained by the growth in population and economic development. Today, the average Flemish household consists of 2.69 people.
What’s the aim?
New buildings are complex structures that demand a lot of space, material and energy. From a circular point of view, we could therefore say that the number of households must decrease so that material consumption can also decline. However, this reasoning is too simplistic. We also need to look at other elements such as urban population growth and household composition (single people with or without children, families with or without children, collective households, etc.). Finally, we must also remember the element of living space.
What does this indicator measure?
Based on data from Statbel, this indicator shows how the number of households in Flanders is evolving on an annual basis. However, the data does not provide a complete picture of the current reality as certain population groups, such as asylum seekers, are not included in these figures.
