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One in eight Belgians live in 'unhealthy' housing conditions

10:24 31/05/2017

Worsening housing conditions are associated with health problems across Europe, where one in six Europeans indicate that they live in 'unhealthy' housing, writes La Libre Belgique. Cold and damp houses and a lack of natural lighting are some of the findings included in the most recent Healthy Homes Barometer published by Velux and presented today in the European Parliament.

The 2017 report was put together by three agencies and independent research centres based on statistics from the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The research team surveyed 12,000 Europeans and studied more than 200 scientific publications.

In Belgium, one in eight people live in unhealthy living conditions, according to the report, with 65% saying that they live in a damp building. They have more health problems than people living in a well-ventilated home. The Belgians surveyed also suffer from the effects of a lack of daylight: they are 79% more likely to be in poor health than people living in a flat or home with an abundance of natural light.

Written by Robyn Boyle