Press release 20/03/2025

SURVEY ON LIVING CONDITIONS. 2024

4 out of 10 families in the Basque Country in 2024 subjectively assess that their economic situation has worsened in the last 3 years

57.4% of families in the Basque Country believed that they lived in a favourable physical environment, although this was the lowest figure since 2009

41.2% of families believed that their financial situation had worsened over the last three years, an increase of 11.9 percentage points compared to the previous edition (2019), according to Eustat data. At the other end of the scale, 16% of families believed that their situation had improved over that time (+2.5 percentage points) and 42.9% of the remaining families believed that their financial situation had remained stable (-14.2 percentage points).

Families residing in the Basque Country who said that they struggled to make ends meet accounted for 28.7% of families, which was a slight decrease in relation to 2019 (-1.2 percentage points).

As regards the subjective financial situation of families, 26.6% were in a situation defined as bad (+17.1 percentage points compared to 2019). 29.5% of Basque families were affected by financial constraints of some kind, which represented an increase of 1.6 percentage points compared to 2019, although this figure did not reach the 40.9% recorded 10 years ago.

Among the different financial constraints adopted, most of them focused on limitations related to leisure (for 77.7%), followed by restrictions on clothing and footwear (56.4%) and household goods and food (both with 42%). Lastly, restrictions on medical care were the least common (16.2% of families affected).

Relationships with family members and people in the neighbourhood

79.9% of families had relatives (mothers, fathers or children) living outside their home with whom they had a relationship. Of these, 88.5% had close relationships, i.e. they were in weekly or daily contact (2.9 percentage points less than in 2019).

90.9% of families had friends and maintained relationships with them. Of these, 78% were in weekly or daily contact with these people. The most common forms of relationship were contact by telephone or internet (44.1%) and weekly meetings (33.9%).

In 2024, 81.6% of families had neighbours and maintained relationships with these people (+6.1 points in relation to 2019). The most common forms of neighbourly relationship were daily conversations on the stairs (62.7%) and providing daily or weekly help (24.2%), although these figures have decreased significantly over the last five years (by 15.3 and 12.7 points, respectively), while the other forms of relationship are gradually disappearing.

The majority of families rated their environment as healthy

The physical environment of Basque families was good for the majority of them (57.4%), who believed that they lived in a “healthy” physical environment, although this was a decrease compared to 2019 (-6.6 percentage points) and the lowest figure since 2009.

The percentage of families who felt that there were nuisances in the area where they lived caused by noise, fumes and odours reached 39.8% (+7.7 percentage points more than in 2019). In addition, the perception of polluting industries rose to 17.3% (+2.3 points).

On the other hand, the social environment, which is defined by the existence of social problems, has deteriorated, since in 2024 53% of families consider it very healthy, 13 percentage points less than in 2019. Despite this, 64.7% of families still consider it very healthy or quite healthy.

In 2024, 20% of families were aware of public safety issues (such as robberies and assaults), the same figure as in 2014 and 4 percentage points higher than in 2019. In addition, the perception of begging increased by 11 points, going from 10.1% in 2019 to 21.1% in 2024, while the perception of alcoholism rose by 12 percentage points and the perception of drug consumption was up 11.6 points compared to 2019.

Household goods (mainly domestic appliances) were present in the vast majority of households in the Basque Country. However, 39.8% of households had few goods of this type, an increase of 22 percentage points in respect of 2019. Nevertheless, almost 100% of families had audiovisual equipment in the home, and 28.6% had a lot of it.

In 2024, 2.6% of family homes, nearly 25,000 households, stated that they did not have any type of heating, 1.2 points more than in 2019. In the Basque Country, individual heating continued to be the most common model in households with heating systems and was present in 63% of them.

As regards facilities in the area, more than 90% of families had numerous services within a 10-minute walk of their home, such as a bus stop (95.9%), bar (95.2%), café (92.8%), bakery (91.7%), pharmacy (91.5%), food shop (91%) and supermarket (90.5%). In contrast, 4% of families lived in areas without any nearby services, although they did have access to a park area (97.4%), church (96.5%), restaurant (94.4%), primary school (94.2%) or bank (92.2%) just 10 minutes further away on foot. However, 2.3% of families did not have a health centre (5.6%) or school (5.8%), etc. within 20 minutes’ walking distance.

Morning and afternoon class schedules declined among the student population

In 2024, 52.5% of the student population had a split schedule, 9.6 points less than in 2019. Furthermore, there was a slight increase in the percentage of students who went home for lunch, which stood at 55.7% (+2.9 percentage points).

The most common mode of travel to places of study was on foot (48.5%), followed by commuting by car (12.7%), although the latter option was down 5.5 percentage points compared to 2019.

People’s health

In 2024, 9.3% of the population stated that they had a disability or chronic health condition (+0.8 points more than in 2019). The prevalence of these conditions varied according to age and primarily affected people aged 60 and over (19.8%).

The percentage of people who had difficulties performing daily activities due to health problems was 7.8% (+1.6 points more than in 2019). The most common difficulty was related to mobility: going up and down stairs was a difficulty or hindrance for 85.8% of these people and 44.8% stated that they had difficulties moving around inside their home.

82.5% of the Basque population visited a medical practice in 2024 (-0.8 points). There was a slight increase in consultations with medical specialists, who treated 52.1% of the population (1 point more than in 2019). In contrast, consultations with primary care doctors were down to 77.8%, a decrease of 7 points. Visits to the dentist remained stable, with 37.7% of the population attending an appointment.

In 2024, just over half a million people aged 6 and over declared that they were a donor; this figure represented 24.7% of the population, the same percentage as in 2019. Among donors, blood donation was the most common (23.4%), once again with the same percentage as in 2019.

Sports associations are the ones with the largest number of members

Sports associations had more than 300,000 members aged 6 and over in 2024, representing 14.6% (0.9 percentage points more than in 2019). In addition, these associations had the highest number of participants, with 208,682 men and 100,750 women, accounting for 67.4% and 32.6%, respectively. They were also the associations that had the highest number of volunteers, with 4.8% of the population.

Men also outnumbered women in terms of participation in political and environmental organisations, while both sexes participated equally in youth associations. On the other hand, women were in the majority in social welfare organisations (42,700 women compared to 32,900 men), development cooperation organisations and education organisations.

Leisure and free time

In 2024, 72.6% of the population aged 6 and over went on holiday and travelled away from home, an increase of 7.8 points compared to 2019. 68.2% of people travelled to other provinces in Spain, 13.9% chose a European country for their holidays and 10.5% preferred to stay in the Basque Country. Relatives' homes were the type of residence used by one in four people who went on holiday.

37.2% of the population had 2 to 4 hours of free time per day. The most popular activities were surfing the internet (69.4%), listening to music (66.6%), watching films at home (59.2%) and practising sports (49.6%).

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea/Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1, 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel.: 945 01 75 6