Digital Inclusion Barometer — Belgium's King Baudouin Foundation Tracks Digital Vulnerability Across Editions

The Digital Inclusion Barometer is an initiative of the King Baudouin Foundation, produced by researchers at UCLouvain (CIRTES/IACCHOS) and imec-MICT-UGent. It re-analyses Statbel's annual federal household ICT survey (coordinated with Eurostat) for people aged 16–74 to monitor digital inequality in Belgium, with editions tracking trends since 2020.
The 2022 edition, using 2019 and 2021 data, found 46% of Belgians digitally vulnerable, 4 percentage points higher than in 2019. That figure combined 7% who do not use the internet and 39% with weak digital skills. The 2024 edition (Brotcorne, Ponnet, Dedonder & Anrijs), using 2021 and 2023 data, reports that 40% of Belgians remain in a vulnerable position regarding digital technology use.
The barometer's value is as a shared, repeated evidence base for policymakers and NGOs. Its limits are equally clear: it is a monitoring instrument built on self-reported survey data, it does not evaluate any specific intervention, and the headline movement between editions is not attributed to particular programmes. Differences in how editions and press coverage date and describe the figures should be checked against the reports themselves.

Read the full analysis: https://better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/research-reports/digital-inclusion-barometer-2024