Majority of Belgians See Dark Future, Survey Reveals

A sweeping national survey has found that a majority of Belgians view the future with deep pessimism, with economic anxiety over purchasing power and growing geopolitical uncertainty driving a historic mood of gloom across the country. The findings, from the Enquête Nationale 2026 / De Stemming 2026 (DSEN26), paint a stark picture of a nation struggling with a sense of regression and declining trust in its institutions.

The Scale of Pessimism

Conducted by the University of Antwerp and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) between March 9 and April 5, 2026, the survey polled 5,354 respondents across Belgium’s three regions. The results, commissioned by RTBF, VRT, and De Standaard, reveal that pessimism is most acute in Wallonia, where 78% of residents say they are pessimistic about the future. Brussels follows closely at 74%, while even in comparatively wealthier Flanders, 65% of respondents share the same bleak outlook.

“There is a link between the lack of confidence in the future and economically very difficult periods,” Louis Dominé, a journalist at La Libre Belgique, told the newspaper in an interview analyzing the results. “The perception of politics is almost relegated to the background.”

Economic Anxiety as the Primary Driver

The survey identifies purchasing power as the number one concern in Wallonia and Brussels, while in Flanders, the state of public finances tops the list with purchasing power close behind. A striking 75% of Walloons and 69% of Brussels residents believe the economy is heading in the wrong direction, alongside 64% of Flemish respondents.

Jean-Benoît Pilet, Professor of Political Science at ULB and co-author of the survey, emphasized that the economic factor outweighs even geopolitics in shaping public sentiment. “This factor is even more decisive than geopolitics,” Pilet said. “Even if other factors exist, the economy is what most impacts how the population sees the future.”

The sense of economic regression is widespread: 61% of Walloons and 57% of Brussels residents believe their personal economic situation has deteriorated, while 52% of Flemish respondents agree. Antoine Gobert, a 30-year-old employee interviewed at the Soignies market, captured the lived reality behind the statistics: “Today, we’re not living, we’re surviving. Every month I have to dip into my savings account to pay my rent, my bills, and eat properly. Honestly, it’s complicated.”

Rejection of Government Measures

The survey reveals a sharp disconnect between the policies of Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s “Arizona” coalition government and public sentiment. Measures such as VAT increases and capped wage indexation are massively rejected across nearly all electorates — 90% of PTB voters, 75% of MR voters, and 80% of Les Engagés voters oppose the VAT hikes. Support for capped indexation falls below 30% in Flanders and even lower in Wallonia and Brussels.

Yet the picture is nuanced. Despite widespread opposition to certain austerity measures, the survey also finds majority support for other reforms, including time-limiting unemployment benefits (77% in Flanders, 59% in Wallonia), aligning civil servant pensions with the private sector, and making Belgian nationality acquisition more difficult. This suggests the public is not uniformly anti-reform but specifically rejects measures perceived as directly harming purchasing power.

A Historic Geopolitical Shift

Beyond economics, the survey documents a dramatic transformation in how Belgians view the United States. For the first time, a majority of Belgians now consider the U.S. an adversary rather than an ally — a historic shift driven by the Trump administration’s foreign policy, territorial claims on Greenland, trade tensions, and controversial statements by the U.S. ambassador to Belgium. According to the survey, over 80% of Belgians want Europe to be militarily autonomous.

Support for increased defense spending has collapsed. In 2025, 71% of Flemish and roughly 60% of Walloon and Brussels residents supported spending 2% of GDP on defense. With the government now targeting 5%, only 54% of Flemish and less than 44% of Walloons and Brussels residents remain in favor.

Political Consequences

The survey’s most consequential political finding is the link between pessimism and support for radical parties. “The more pessimistic people are, the more they tend to say they will probably vote for parties that radically criticize the system,” Pilet explained, “whether it’s the PTB in the south of the country or the PVDA and Vlaams Belang in the north.”

What to Watch For

The findings present a significant challenge for the De Wever government, which must navigate a deeply pessimistic electorate while pursuing its ambitious reform agenda. With purchasing power dominating public concern and support for radical parties rising, the political landscape could shift considerably ahead of future elections. The question now is whether the government can restore confidence — or whether the pessimism documented in this survey will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.