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Since 1990, the number of inhabitants in the municipalities along the Scheldt estuary increased by 5.4% to almost 2 million in 2008. In the last decade, both in the Flemish and the Dutch Scheldt municipalities, mainly agricultural land was lost in favour of other land uses such as infrastructure. In 2009, 14% of the total area of the Scheldt municipalities was built up, an increase of 1.7% compared to 1996 - 1997. The average income of an inhabitant in the Flemish or Dutch municipalities in 2007 was lower than the average income of an inhabitant in respectively the Flemish region or the Netherlands.

The Scheldt ports have an important gate function and a socio-economic influence in the region. The freight transhipment in the Scheldt ports increased from 113 million tons in 1980 to 250 million tons in 2008, an absolute record. Especially the container flow in the port of Antwerp experienced a sharp increase. The Scheldt ports are the strongest growing ports in the 'Hamburg - Le Havre' range since 1980 and account for more than 20% of the total cargo transshipment in the area. In 2007, the total employment in the ports has increased with a minimum of 5% (Terneuzen) and a maximum of 22% (Antwerp) compared to 2002. The total added value has known a strong growth compared to 2002: +57% for Vlissingen and Terneuzen and respectively +43% and +31% for Antwerp and Ghent.

When the final publication was made available in 2011, no chapter for nautical management had been included yet. At the end of June 2011 two reports would be evaluated by the Permanent Committee on the Supervision of the Scheldt (PC):

• The update of the evaluation 'external safety'
• The final results of the chain operation study

However, the summarizing texts that would be provided by the PC afterwards were not yet included in the indicators.

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The annual volumes of dredged and dumped material reached maximal values to 17 million m³ during the first and second widening of the Scheldt estuary. After the second expansion, an average of 9.7 million m³ was dredged every year. In the entire period (1931 - 2008), 116 million m³ more was dredged than was dumped back in the estuary. Until 1970 a lot of dredge spoil was used for the construction of the new port and industrial sites. Since 1956, 154 million m³ of sand has been extracted in the Scheldt estuary. Since 1993 sand extraction in the Western Scheldt had reached its maximum of 2.6 million m³ and was discontinued from 2014 onwards. An average of 1.1 million m³ of sand was extracted in the Sea Scheldt between 1981 and 2008. The cost of dredging activities for maintenance in the Scheldt estuary is minimal compared to the added value realized by the Scheldt ports.

When the final publication was made available in 2011, no chapter for recreation on land and on water had been included yet.

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The number of nights spent by Dutch tourists in the tourist regions of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and Walcheren is decreased to 17% since 2005. In the Bevelanden and in Tholen, residential tourism is rather increasing. However, no data are available for residential tourism specifically for the Western Scheldt. Between 2002 and 2008, the number of holidays and the number of nights spent in the touristic region 'Scheldeland' in Flanders grew by 50% and 40% respectively. The average duration of a stay slightly decreased from 2.6 to 2.3 nights. During a holiday, a tourist spends on average 68 euros a day in the region Scheldeland compared to 23 euros in the Zeelandic regions. The expenses are partly determined by the type of accommodation on offer. Determination of a trend in the expenditure is currently not possible. There is growing attention for eco-labels in tourist infrastructure, although the portion of the total offer is still limited.

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The different habitats (ecotopes) in the Scheldt estuary have endured major changes in the last 50 years. In 2004, the mudflat (and plane) area in the Western Scheldt and Lower Sea Scheldt decreased with 20% compared to the 1950's, a loss of more than 1,000 ha. The salt marsh area was in 2004 two thirds of the area in the 50's, a decrease of approximately 1,500 ha. In the same period, the area of the subtidal or underwater habitats increased with 325 ha. On average, the gullies of the Western Scheldt have deepened and/or widened between 1951 and 2002. Since 1988, the mean high water levels in the Scheldt estuary show an upward trend. The location of the maximum average high water level and the minimum average low water level have shifted upstream since 1988. Developments in the salinity or salt gradient are hard to interpret and deserve further investigation.

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Since 1988, the mean high water levels in the Scheldt estuary show an upward trend. The evolution of the mean low water levels is less clear. The location of the maximum average high water level and the minimum average low water level have shifted upstream since 1988. The number of storm floods at Vlissingen and Antwerp have increased in the period 1950 - 2000. In 2005, the floodrisk in the dike ring areas along the Western Scheldt, both in terms of number of victims and economic value, decreased compared to 1975. In the Sea Scheldt basin, the inundation risk (damage) amounts to approximately 1 billion euros per year (situation in 2006).

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Overall, the quality of the surface water in the Scheldt estuary scores insufficiently according to the assessment of the European Water Framework Directive. In 2009, no surface water body in the Scheldt estuary was in an acceptable environmental or ecological condition. Concerning the chemical state, the amount of metals, industrial pollutants and pesticides meet the standards in more than 60% of the water bodies. Often other pollutants are the problem. Most of the water bodies also score insufficient when assessing the ecological quality elements of the directive (algae, other aquatic flora, benthic invertebrates, fish, physicochemical parameters and specific pollutants). The fish stock of the estuary is in a moderate to poor condition. However, the oxygen balance has improved considerably in the last decades.

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The efforts of the maritime sector to disconnect the environmental pressure from the growth in this sector are noticeable. The emissions of sulphur oxides, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides in the Scheldt ports have decreased relatively compared to the (rising) cargo transshipment, and in some cases even decreased in absolute values. The stricter emission standards, the use of low-sulphur fuel and the renewal of ship's engines definitely have an impact. There also appear to be a break in the trend in CO₂ emissions, which are rising less rapidly compared to cargo transshipment. The Scheldt ports aim at more environmentally friendly ways of freight transport from and to the hinterland. Figures will be made available that can show trends in the general modal distribution of the freight transport.

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In recent decades, consumers, industry, agriculture, transport, traffic and other sectors have made big efforts to tackle the impact of environmental pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides and nutrients on the Scheldt estuary. In general, the nutrient load (nitrogen and phosphorus compounds) in the Scheldt basin in Flanders and the Netherlands has decreased in the past 20 years. In 2009, 95% of the designated bathing waters in the Scheldt estuary met the European minimum standards for bathing water quality. The proportion of 'heavily polluted' sediments in the Flemisch part of the Scheldt estuary decreased from 70% to 54% between 2000 and 2007. In 2009, all samples of dredged material in the Western Scheldt met the quality standards. The measured levels of pollutants in the food web of the Scheldt estuary have declined in the past decades.

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Only 4 out of 30 (or 13%) species and habitats in the Natura 2000 areas of the Scheldt estuary have a favourable conservation status on the level of the wider biogeographical regions. On the level of the area, the status of species and habitats is provisionally assessed according to the 'protection status'. All species of the Habitat Directive in the areas 'Scheldt and Durme estuary' and 'Vlakte van de Raan' have a good or excellent protection status. Three of five species in 'Western Scheldt and Saeftinghe' have a good protection status. The status of the great crested newt (Triturus cristatus) in 'Zwin and Kievittepolder' is moderately or less well preserved. Almost all bird species, designated for the Bird Directive areas of the Scheldt estuary, have a well of excellently preserved protection status. The number of breeding pairs and the breeding success of coastal breeding birds in the Scheldt estuary often show an erratic trend. Many environmental variables (for example weather conditions, predation, vegetation present) have an influence.

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The increasing cargo transport and passenger traffic over large distances cause more non-endemic species to settle in new habitats. The Scheldt estuary, where ports, shipping and transport are of special interest, does not escape this trend either. The total number of registered non-edemic species with established populations in and around the Scheldt estuary is 83 (sitatuation in 2009). Nine of these species are provisionally considered as 'potentially invasive'. The brackish water zone appears to be particularly sensitive to the establishment of new non-endemic species.

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In the past 70 years, the area of valuable, legally protected nature reserves and landscapes in the Scheldt estuary has known an exponential increase from 167 ha in 1939 to 92,588 ha protected area in 2009. In the context of the updated Sigmaplan, more than 5,300 ha of new nature reserve will be developed along the Sea Scheldt valley by 2025.

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The government, companies and society work together on new 'opportunities for nature' in the Scheldt estuary. Significant progression has been made in terms of water purification and the European standards for purification efficiency for nitrogen and phosphorus are amply achieved, both in the Netherlands and Flanders. Considering the limited range and growth prospects in organic farming, measures in the agricultural sector in the Scheldt river basin district are strongly focusing on diminishing the infiltration of eutrophying compounds into surface waters. In years with 'wet winters', it remains challenging - despite the globally downward trend - to keep the nitrate concentrations below the treshold value of 50mg NO3/L. Important common objectives have also been set for restoring fish migration in the Scheldt. In 2009, 3 out of 50 (or 6%) of the bottlenecks for fish migration in the estuary were removed. This means however that the objective (of the Benelux) of 1996 is still far beyond reach.

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Professional fishing in the Scheldt estuary only occurs in the Western Scheldt. In the Lower and Upper Sea Scheldt professional fishing no longer occurs. Concerning cockle fishing, always more than 50% of the total amount of harvestable cockle meat was fished between 1992 and 1995. Subsequently, there was a sharp decline in this percentage and in the period 2006 - 2010 no more cockle weres harvested. 1998 and 2004 were good years for cockles in the Western Scheldt with a total quantity of respectively 3.59 and 3.43 million kilograms 'harvestable' cockle meat. In 2009, only two (haddock and plaice) of the seven most important commercial fish stocks in the North Sea and adjacent areas were within biologically safe reference values. No area specific assessment is available for the Scheldt estuary. Sport fishing occurs across the entire estuary, but data on the pressure of this type of fishing are not available.

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The Working Group Research and Monitoring is a permanent working group of the Vlaams Nederlandse Scheldecommissie (VNSC). Among other things, this committee also implements the Hague Memorandum (2005), in which a 'long term monitoring and research program to support cross-border cooperation for the policy and management of the Scheld estuary' was included. De ScheldeMonitor is a Flemish-Dutch knowledge and information system for research and monitoring in the Scheldt estuary. Within a period of ten years, the annual proportion of 'joint' Flemish-Dutch publications about the Scheldt estuary has risen from 18% (2000) to 54% (2010). This measurement includes publications that are included and described in ScheldeMonitor and of which the origin of the authors is known as well. On average, annually 25% of these publications are the result of a cross-border collaboration.

The Scheldt Indicators can only fully come into their own if they are supported by a broad social basis. The user statistics of the Scheldt Indicators website show to what extent the target audience has found access to this instrument. The analysis of the user statistics serves as an indirect way of consulting the users and is used to manage the content and concept of the Scheldt Indicators. Furthermore, the analysis of these statistics can also be used to evaluate the communication strategy applied and to adjust this if necessary. The data supporting this indicator were only available several months after launching the Scheldt Indicators website, when a sufficiently long time series of user statistics were available.