Well-being here and now: society
- Dutch society is strong. The Netherlands ranks in the top 3 of the EU27 in terms of contact with friends, family, and neighbours, voice and accountability, trust in institutions and trust in other people.
- Many people are satisfied/very satisfied with their social life (80 percent of the population), although the trend is declining.
- The trend for trust in other people has been increasing steadily for years, while at the same time the trend for contact with friends, family, and neighbours has been decreasing.
- Following a dip during the COVID-19 pandemic, the percentage of Dutch people doing voluntary work has increased again and the trend is no longer downward. Moreover, 43.3 percent of the population aged 15 years and older are members of hobby/sports clubs and associations, the second-highest percentage in the EU27.
Society
in EU
in 2020
in EU
in 2022
in EU
in 2020
in EU
in 2020
| Theme | Indicator | Value | Trend | Position in EU | Position in EU ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Society | Contact with family, friends or neighbours | 71.3% have contact for social reasons at least once a week in 2023 | decreasing (decrease well-being) | 1st out of 19 in 2020 | High ranking |
| Society | Voice and accountability | 1.54 score on a scale of -2.5 (weak) to 2.5 (strong) in 2022 | 3rd out of 27 in 2022 | High ranking | |
| Society | Trust in institutions | 61.2% of the population over 15 answered “very high“ or “fairly high“ in 2023 | 2nd out of 19 in 2020 | High ranking | |
| Society | Trust in other people | 66.7% of the population over 15 think most people can be trusted in 2023 | increasing (increase well-being) | 2nd out of 19 in 2020 | High ranking |
| Society | Changes in values and norms | 19.0% of the population over 18 say norms and values are the same or better in 2023 | |||
| Society | Voluntary work | 48.7% of the population over 15 do organised voluntary work in 2023 |
Colour codes and notes to the dashboards in the Monitor of Well-being
The share of the population who meet up with family, friends or neighbours at least once a week shows a downward trend. There is a trade-off between the hours spent on work and time for other activities. In 2023, 7.2 percent of active labour force said they had an unsatisfactory work-life balance. In no other EU country is this group as small as in the Netherlands. Despite the high Dutch net labour participation rate, the number of actual weekly hours worked per worker is among the lowest in the EU.
Higher levels of social participation result in people trusting each other and key institutions – including the government – more. People’s trust in each other is increasing. However, only one in five people believe that norms and values are moving in the right direction, or at least remaining the same. Trust in institutions (in this summary indicator: police, judge, and the House of Representatives) saw a substantial increase in the first year of the pandemic, 2020 (by 6.4 percentage points). However, it subsequently dropped sharply, by 2.6 percentage points in 2021 and by another 5.6 percentage points in 2022. In 2023, the level stabilised. SDG 16.2 Peace, justice and strong institutions: institutions provides more detail on the various institutions. SDG 10.1 Social cohesion and inequality further shows that satisfaction with social life is high: 80 percent of the population are satisfied or very satisfied, although the trend is downward. In 2020, 12.1 percent of the population considered themselves to be part of a group that was discriminated against. This is high compared with other EU countries. However, Dutch people have a more positive view of immigrants than many other EU countries.
Well-being and the SDG agenda both address prevention of unbalanced growth, social exclusion and unequal opportunities. The overall picture described in the monitor does not apply to all groups in society. Distribution of well-being shows in which groups well-being is above and in which groups it is below the national average. SDG 5 Gender equality shows favourable trends for many indicators in terms of equal opportunities and inclusion of women compared with men. The gender pay gap is narrowing, the proportion of higher educated women is increasing, as is women’s labour force participation and the percentage of women who are economically independent. Women now make up more than half of students in higher education (53.3 percent in 2023).
But although differences in the position of men and women are diminishing, they are still considerable, as labour force participation, economic independence and percentage of higher educated are all also increasing for men. In 2023, labour force participation was still 8.3 percentage points higher for men than for women. The hourly wage of women was 12.0 percent lower than that of men, as a result of differences in age, part-time work, occupational level and managerial positions. In 2022, 68.8 percent of women were economically independent – i.e. they had a net annual income from work and/or their own business of at least 70 percent of the legal net minimum wage – compared with 82.7 percent of men. Trends are upward. However, women are still far from being proportionally represented in business and politics: in 2023 they held 29.2 percent of management positions and 40.7 percent of parliamentary seats.