Life style; personal characteristics

Life style; personal characteristics

Characteristics Margins Periods Smoking behaviour, 12 years or older Smoking status Smokers (%) Smoking behaviour, 12 years or older Smokers Daily smokers in the population (%) Passive smoking among non-smokers (Almost) never (%) Alcohol consumption, 12 years or older Guideline alcohol use, 12 plus (%) Drugs use, 12 years or older Use of cannabis Last year (%)
Total persons Value 2023 18.1 12.6 84.5 46.0 7.5
Sex: Male Value 2023 21.3 14.8 83.6 37.4 10.5
Sex: Female Value 2023 14.9 10.5 85.4 54.5 4.7
Age: 0 to 3 years Value 2023 . . 96.5 . .
Age: 4 to 11 years Value 2023 . . 95.2 . .
Age: 12 to 15 years Value 2023 2.8 0.4 81.0 83.3 3.0
Age: 16 to 19 years Value 2023 16.7 7.8 60.0 37.8 16.0
Age: 20 to 29 years Value 2023 28.7 15.8 68.1 30.6 21.5
Age: 30 to 39 years Value 2023 23.8 16.3 79.7 39.0 11.3
Age: 40 to 49 years Value 2023 21.0 15.3 85.6 44.5 5.5
Age: 50 to 54 years Value 2023 18.9 15.4 86.6 44.5 3.8
Age: 55 to 64 years Value 2023 16.2 13.2 87.1 47.1 2.8
Age: 65 to 74 years Value 2023 13.1 12.0 89.9 48.3 0.7
Age: 75 years or older Value 2023 6.6 5.4 93.1 63.9 0.6
Age: 0 to 11 years Value 2023 . . 95.7 . .
Age: 12 to 17 years Value 2023 7.2 2.2 74.3 69.2 6.9
Age: 18 years or older Value 2023 19.0 13.5 83.4 44.0 7.6
Level of educ: 1. Low Value 2023 23.9 21.4 85.0 58.2 5.2
Level of educ: 2 Intermediate Value 2023 20.9 16.7 83.8 42.6 5.0
Level of educ: 3 High Value 2023 12.3 6.0 88.2 39.9 6.5
Level of educ: Unknown Value 2023 21.9 20.9 . 73.4 6.5
Source: CBS.
Explanation of symbols

Table explanation


This table contains data on life style of the Dutch population in private households. These data can be grouped by several personal characteristics.

Data available from: 2014.

Status of the data: final.

Changes by September 24, 2024:
The nutrition score is calculated based on various components.
For the component score for snacks, for children aged 1 to 9 years people, the cut-off point of persons aged 9 years and older were incorrectly used instead of the age-specific cut-off points. This has been adjusted. As a result, the figures for the total food score (high, medium, low and average nutrition score) changed slightly.

Changes by March 14, 2024:
Data about 2023 have been added.
Figures about laughing gas have been added. The questions about nutrition have changed in 2023.
That is why a new series for nutrition will be started in 2023 and the old series of figures on nutrition (2014-2022) will no longer be added.

When will new data be published?
Data on reporting year 2024 will be published in the second quarter of 2025

Description topics

Smoking behaviour, 12 years or older
Questions on smoking behaviour are asked to persons aged 12 years or older.
Smoking status
Smokers
The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who answered ‘Yes’ to the question: ‘Do you ever smoke?’

From 2014 to 2017, the introductory text for this question was: ‘Now some questions about smoking.’ From 2018 to 2019 this text was changed in: ‘Now some questions about smoking. We mean smoking of all kinds of tobacco products here, but not the use of an electronic cigarette.’
Smokers
The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who answered ‘Yes’ to the question: ‘Do you smoke?’.

From 2014 to 2017, the introductory text for this question was: ‘Now some questions about smoking.’ From 2018 to 2019 this text was changed in: ‘Now some questions about smoking. We mean smoking of all kinds of tobacco products here, but not the use of an electronic cigarette.’ From 2020 this introduction text was replaced by ‘Now some questions about smoking. We mean smoking of all kinds of tobacco products here, but not the use of an electronic cigarette or a device in which tobacco is heated (heat stick, heat-not-burn), such as the IQOS’.
Daily smokers in the population
The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who answered Yes’ to the question ‘Do you smoke every day?
Passive smoking among non-smokers
Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke from nearby smokers while being indoors. The table shows the distribution of answers to the question among people who do not smoke themselves: ‘How often do you (or: does your child) get exposed indoor to tobacco smoke from other people?’.

From 2019 onwards, the answer options were replaced by ‘Never or almost never’, ‘Less than once a week’, ‘Once a week but not every week’, ‘Daily, less than 1 hour a day’ and ‘Daily, one hour or more a day’. These data are not comparable to the data of 2015-2018.
(Almost) never
Percentage of people with answer category ‘never of almost never’ to the question: ‘How often do you (or: does your child) get exposed indoor to tobacco smoke from other people?’.
Alcohol consumption, 12 years or older
The questions on consuming alcohol are asked to all persons aged 12 years or older.
Guideline alcohol use, 12 plus
The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older that meet the guideline on alcohol use. Since 2014, the guideline for persons aged 12 to 18 years is: do not drink until you are 18 years old. Since 2015, the guideline for adults is: do not drink or at most 1 glass per day. This guideline originates from the Guidelines for Good Nutrition (in Dutch: Richtlijnen Goede Voeding) of the Dutch Health Council.
Drugs use, 12 years or older
The questions about drug use are asked to all persons aged 12 or older. The following types of drugs are asked whether they have ever been used and, if so, when was the last time:
• Cannabis (hash, weed, marijuana)
• Amphetamine (such as pep and speed)
• Ecstasy (ecstasy, MDMA)
• LSD
• Magic mushrooms (hallucinogenic mushrooms)
• Cocaine (also crack, boiled coke, freebase)
• Heroine (horse, smack or brown)
• GHB
• Methadone
• From 2018: 4-Fluoroamphetamine, also called 4-FA, 4-FMP or Flux
• Other drugs
From 2023, the questions about methadone and 4-FA have been removed and replaced by questions about ketamine and 3MMC. People are also asked about the use of laughing gas. Figures for this are included in this table from reporting year 2023.
The answer categories for each type of drug are:
• Yes, in the last 30 days
• Yes, in the last 12 months, but not in the last 30 days
• Yes, more than 12 months ago
• No, never used
Use of cannabis
Based on the question about the use of cannabis (hashish, weed, marijuana)
Last year