Last updated on 9-7-2024 by Jonathan Buedts
Why do we study the consumption of food prepared outside the home?
- The last decades have seen an increase in the consumption of foods and drinks out of home. ‘Out of home food’ includes foods and drinks from vending machines or take-away stores, at friend’s places, restaurants, schools, work sites, or ‘on the go’.
- Research has found that a high frequency of out of home food consumption leads to poorer diet quality, i.e. higher intake of foods and drinks rich in energy, fat, sugar, and sodium, as well as lower intake of fruits and vegetables.
- There is a need for data on this topic to analyse the impact of eating outside the home on dietary intake and health. Such data is also important to monitor the nutritional quality and energy supply of foods and drinks prepared outside the home and to develop measures and policies to help consumers make healthier choices.
How do we study it?
- Participants aged 10 years and above (including the parents of 3 to 9 year old children) were asked to report the frequency of eating (‘How often do you eat…’):
- dishes from fast food outlets, snack bars, etc.;
- in a restaurant with table service;
- food delivered at home.
- Answer options included: ‘never’, ‘less than once a month’, ‘1-3 times a month’, ‘once a week’, ‘2-4 times a week’, ‘5-6 times a week’, and ‘every day’. To make it easier to interpret the results, some categories were combined to give the following final categories: ‘less than once a month’, ‘between one and three times a month’, ‘at least once a week’.
Key results
In Belgium, 21% of the population aged 10 years and above eat dishes from fast food outlets once a week or more, 10% eat in a restaurant with table service once a week or more and 7% eat food delivered at home once a week or more.
The percentage of individuals eating fast food and food delivered at home once a week or more is higher in males than females.
Fast food consumption is more frequent among adolescents aged 10 to 17 years and among young adults aged 18 to 39 years.
The frequency of fast food consumption increases when the education level decreases, whereas the opposite trend is observed regarding the frequency of eating in a restaurant with table service.
Frequency of fast-food consumption
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating dishes from fast food outlets (on-site or to take away), by sex, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- In the Belgian population aged 10 years and above, 46% of the individuals eat fast food dishes less than once a month, 33% between one and three times a month, and 21% at least once a week.
- A higher proportion of men (24%) than women (17%) consume fast food dishes at least once a week. In addition, the proportion of individuals eating dishes from fast food outlets less than once a month is lower among men (43%) than women (50%).
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating dishes from fast food outlets (on-site or for take away), by age, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- For children aged 3 to 9 years old, the question was asked to the parent regarding his/her consumption and not the consumption of the child. We can therefore not consider these percentages as the frequencies of children’s fast food consumption.
- Around one-third of adolescents aged 10 to 17 years and young adults aged 18 to 39 years eat dishes from fast food outlets once a week or more. This proportion is higher than in the other age groups (between 4% and 23%).
- In parallel, the proportion of individuals eating dishes from fast food outlets less than once a month is lower in adolescents and young adults (respectively, 26% and 23%) than in the other age groups (between 33% and 85%).
- Globally, we observe a decrease in the frequency of fast food consumption in the age groups of 40 to 64 years and 65 years and above.
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating dishes from fast food outlets (on-site or for take away), by educational level, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- For children aged 3 to 9 years old, the question was asked to the parent regarding his/her consumption and not the consumption of the child. We can therefore not consider these percentages as the frequencies of children’s fast food consumption.
- The education level is calculated at the household level by considering the highest diploma obtained by: (i) the respondents 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.
- For children aged 3 to 9 years old, the question was asked to the parent regarding his/her consumption and not the consumption of the child. We can therefore not consider these percentages as the frequencies of children’s fast food consumption.
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating dishes from fast food outlets (on-site or to take away), by region, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- The frequency of eating fast food dishes is comparable in the three regions of Belgium.
Frequency of eating in a restaurant with table service
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating in a restaurant with table service, by sex, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- In the Belgian population aged 10 years and above, 53% of the individuals eat in a restaurant with table service less than once a month, 37% between one and three times a month, and 10% once a week or more.
- The proportion of individuals eating in a restaurant with table service at least once a week did not vary according to sex.
- The proportion of individuals eating in a restaurant with table service between one and three times a month is higher among males than females. By contrast, the proportion of individuals eating in a restaurant with table service less than once a month is higher among females than males.
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating in a restaurant with table service, by age, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- For children aged 3 to 9 years old, the question was asked to the parent regarding his/her consumption and not the consumption of the child. We can therefore not consider these percentages as the children’s frequency of eating in a restaurant with table service.
- The proportion of individuals eating in a restaurant with table service at least once a week is twice as high among adults aged 18 to 39 years and 40 to 64 years (respectively, 12% and 14%), compared to the other age groups (between 5% and 7%).
- Similarly, the proportion of individuals eating in a restaurant with table service between one and three times a month is higher among adults aged 18 to 39 years and 40 to 64 years (respectively, 42% and 43%) than in the other age groups (around 30%).
- Around 60% of the parents of 3 to 9 year old children, the adolescents, and adults of 65 years and above eat in a restaurant with table service less than once a month, whereas this proportion decreases to around 45% among young and middle-aged adults.
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating in a restaurant with table service, by education level, Belgium: 2022-2023
- 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 respondents 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.
- Globally, the frequency of eating in a restaurant with table service increases when the education level increases.Indeed, the proportion of individuals eating in a restaurant with table service once a week or more is higher among individuals with a high education level than among those with mid or low education levels.
- In addition, the proportion of individuals eating in a restaurant with table service between one and three times a month is higher among individuals with mid or high education levels than among those with a low education level.
- A higher proportion of individuals with a low education level eat less than once a month in a restaurant with table service, compared to individuals with mid or high education levels.
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating in a restaurant with table service, by region, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- Globally, the frequency of eating in a restaurant with table service is higher among the inhabitants of Brussels than among those living in Wallonia or Flanders.
- Indeed, the proportion of individuals eating in a restaurant with table service once a week or more is higher among individuals living in Brussels, compared to those living in the two other regions.
- In addition, the proportion of individuals eating at a restaurant with table service less than once a month is lower in Brussels than in Wallonia and Flanders.
Frequency of eating food delivered at home
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating food delivered at home, by sex, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- In the Belgian population aged 10 years and above, 79% of the individuals eat food delivered at home less than once a month, 15% between one and three times a month, and 7% once a week or more.
- The percentage of individuals eating food delivered at home once a week or more is higher in men than in women.
- In addition, a higher proportion of men compared to women eat food delivered at home between one and three times a month.Women are more likely than men to eat food delivered at home less than once a month.
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating food delivered at home, by age, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- For children aged 3 to 9 years old, the question was asked to the parent regarding his/her consumption and not the consumption of the child. We can therefore not consider these percentages as the frequencies of children’s consumption of food delivered at home.
- The proportion of individuals eating food delivered at home at least once a week is the highest among young adults aged 18 to 39 years, and decreases then among middle-aged adults and older adults. The same trend is observed for the proportion of individuals eating food delivered at home between one and three times a month.
- Around 70% of the parents of 3 to 9 year old children and adolescents eat food delivered at home less than once a month. This percentage decreases to 67% among adults aged 18 to 39 years, and increases then to 82% among adults aged 40 to 64 years and to 94% among adults aged 65 years and above.
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating food delivered at home, by education level, Belgium: 2022-2023
- 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 respondents 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.
- The frequency of eating food delivered at home does not vary according to the education level.
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above (including parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of eating food delivered at home, by region, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- Eating food delivered at home at least once a month is more frequently observed in Brussels than in Flanders and Wallonia.
Please cite this page as: Sciensano. Food habits: Consumption of food prepared outside the home, Food Consumption Survey 2022-2023, June 2024, Brussels, Belgium, https://www.sciensano.be/en/results-food-consumption-survey-2022-2023/food-habits/consumption-food-prepared-outside-home