Subjective well-being
- Compared with other EU countries, the Dutch population are very satisfied with life and feel in control of their own lives.
- Just over half the Dutch population feel they are mostly in control of their own lives. The remainder say they experience an average level of control at most.
- A large share of the Dutch population are satisfied with their home, living environment, work, leisure time, and social life.
Subjective well-being
in EU
in 2020
in EU
in 2017
| Theme | Indicator | Value | Trend | Position in EU | Position in EU ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjective well-being | Satisfaction with life | 84.2% of the population gave their life a score of 7 or more in 2023 | 2nd out of 19 in 2020 | High ranking | |
| Subjective well-being | Feeling in control of own life | 52.5% feel in control (scores 4 or 5 on a scale of 1-5) in 2023 | 3rd out of 27 in 2017 | High ranking |
Colour codes and notes to the dashboards in the Monitor of Well-being
Just over half the Dutch population (52.5 percent in 2023) feel they have a high degree of control over their own lives. However, overall life satisfaction in the Netherlands is high. After peaking in 2019 (87.3 percent), the group who are very satisfied with life has become smaller. In 2023, 84.2 percent of the population gave their lives a mark of 7 out of 10 or higher. The Netherlands ranks high within the EU on both subjective well-being indicators, although the international figures are not very recent. Life satisfaction does show clear variations by age, sex, education level, country of birth, and origin, see <
The various aspects of life with which people are satisfied or dissatisfied also differ. For example, in 2023, 78.9 percent of employees were satisfied with their work, and 77.9 percent of workers were satisfied with their working conditions. Because of a break in the time series due to questionnaire changes, no trend can be calculated yet. Satisfaction with learning opportunities (83.5 percent) is also high.
Trends were neutral and satisfaction was high in 2023 for housing and the living environment (86.2 and 85.4 percent, respectively), amount of leisure time (73.7 percent), work (70.5 percent), and – to a slightly lesser extent – satisfaction with cultural options in the vicinity (53 percent in 2022). A large part of the population are satisfied with their social life, but the trend for this indicator is declining.
Information on all indicators related to consumer and producer sentiment, satisfaction and confidence can be found in the ‘Subjective assessment’ category of the individual SDG dashboards.