Actions expected from the government

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.

• 11 out of the 12 policy actions are supported by more than 64% of the Belgian population.
• Policies with the highest support are:
  • 1) to educate children about healthy eating habits in schools (93%) ;
  • 2) to subsidise fruits and vegetables (85%) ;
  • 3) to encourage food companies to improve the nutritional value of their packaged products (85%).
• Other actions in the school and public sector settings receive high support: 81% think that the government should provide healthy school meals; and 81% think that the government should restrict sales of sugary drinks in schools and other public buildings and institutions.
• Taxation is the only policy action that did not reach a majority of support: 49% are in support of a tax on unhealthy foods, while 37% oppose it, and 14% are neutral.
• Enforcement/restriction related to food labelling and health claims receive similar support with close to 65% (fast-food labelling, ban on claims on unhealthy products, make Nutri-Score mandatory) of the Belgian population. 

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
• The education level is calculated at the household level by considering the highest diploma obtained by: (i) the respondent or their partner for adults (aged 18 years and above), or (ii) the father and mother (or carer, if applicable) for children and adolescents (aged 3 to 17 years). However, for simplicity, we refer to the education level of individuals rather than the education level of their households.

• Ten of the twelve policies, regardless of level of education, are supported by a majority of the Belgian population.
• The proportion of individuals who expect the government to support policies that promote healthy habits — such as providing information and education on healthy eating, restricting sales of sugary drinks, banning marketing of unhealthy foods to children and claims on unhealthy products, encouraging food reformulation, and imposing the Nutri-score — increases as their educational level goes up.
• Compared to the lower and middle education groups, taxation of unhealthy foods garnered more support from highly educated individuals.
• A sizeable proportion of the Belgian population, 89%, from households with lower educational levels supports a policy that would make fruits and vegetables cheaper.

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.​
• The questions on food policies for those aged 3 to 9 years old reflect the answers of their parents or caregivers.

• Education on healthy eating received the most support with at least 90% in favour across all groups.
• Parents of 3 to 9 year olds, middle-aged adults, and older adults have high expectations for policies that could influence the healthy eating habits of children. These include: education on healthy eating, providing healthy school meals, restriction of sugar-sweetened beverage sales in schools and public spaces, and ban of marketing of unhealthy foods to children.
• Reducing the cost of healthy food by subsidising fruits and vegetables is greatly supported by all groups and most especially by parents of 3 to 9 year old children (90%).
• Policies related to the food industry such as food reformulation, food labelling, and health claims on unhealthy food and drinks are supported by the majority of the individuals in each group.
• Taxation of unhealthy food products received relatively lower support than the other policies. Nevertheless, taxation of unhealthy food and drinks is supported by the majority of older adults (56%) and parents of 3 to 9 year old children (53%).

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.

• Eleven out of the 12 policies received more than 62% support from both men and women in the population.
• Of all the policies, education about healthy eating habits in schools received the most support from 92% of men and 94% of women.
• Taxation of unhealthy foods is supported by only 49% of men and women in the Belgian population.
• Women are more likely to agree with most of the policies than men.

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.

• Policies that educate on healthy eating (93%), provide healthy school meals (81%), and restrict sugar-sweetened beverages (81%) are highly supported by the Belgian population. Across regions, there are more individuals in Brussels than in Flanders and Wallonia who support these policies.
• Information dissemination about the benefits of healthy eating through campaigns, nutritional recommendations or other tools is supported by 64% of the population. Across regions, this policy respectively received the most and least support in Flanders (72%) and Wallonia (49%). 

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socio-economic status.​
• Participants in Brussels were not interrogated on these questions.

• Policies that subsidise fruits and vegetables and encourage food reformulation are supported by 85% of the Belgian population. These policies are also well supported in Flanders and Wallonia but with relatively higher proportion of supporters in the former than the latter.
• Policies that involve food industries such as the ban on marketing of unhealthy foods to children, compulsory food reformulation, compulsory fast-food labelling, ban of claims on unhealthy products, and compulsory  Nutri-score labelling are also strongly supported by 64% support of the population. For most of these policies, support in Wallonia is higher than in Flanders.
• Taxation of unhealthy foods is expected from the government by only 49% of the Belgian population. Compared to Flanders (51%), the proportion of individuals in Wallonia (46%) that support this taxation is lower. 

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
• The population was restricted to individuals who are 18 to 64 years old to make both years comparable.
• Only variables that are similar in both survey years are presented in this plot. There is limited comparability between these variables since the questions between the two surveys are worded differently.
  • In 2014-2015: ‘Does the government have a role to play in the following situations?
  • In 2022-2023: ‘What actions do you expect from governments (European/national/regional/local) to support you and your family to consume a healthy diet ?’

• In both years, approximately 94% believed that the government should play a role in educating children about healthy eating habits at schools.
• There has been an increase in agreement on policies that would subsidise fruits and vegetables and encourage the food industry to improve the nutritional content of processed foods.
• While the level of agreement on government actions on informing about healthy eating (through promoting information campaigns, nutritional recommendations, and apps) and imposing food reformulation remains high, there has been a decline in the proportion of individuals who agree with these policies.