CBS: Many Dutch people feel very happy
More than a fifth of the Dutch population aged 18 or older considers themselves very happy. On a scale of 1 to 10, they rate their happiness with a 9 or 10. On the other hand, a small minority of less than 3 percent consider themselves unhappy. They rate their level of happiness with a 4 or less.
Over the period 2013-2017, this picture of happiness is almost the same. This is evident from recent research by Statistics Netherlands.
People aged 18 and over were asked through a survey how they perceive their well-being in terms of happiness and life satisfaction. They were also asked about their social contacts, trust in other people and voluntary work.
Very lucky ones, who are they?
Married people, people in the highest income category and working people in particular often indicate that they are very happy. Divorced adults, the low-educated and people in the lowest income group are the most unhappy.
The vast majority (86 percent) of the over-18s who consider themselves very happy, experience good or very good health. 27 percent of them indicate that their health is very good, compared to 12 percent of the other adults. How exactly the experience of happiness and health are related and influence each other cannot be determined on the basis of these figures.
Of the adults who are very happy, 56 percent have daily contact with family, friends or acquaintances. That is more than for the rest of the population (50 percent). In addition, they are slightly more often active as volunteers and have more trust in their fellow human beings. Of the very lucky, 65 percent believe that most people can be trusted, compared to 58 percent of the other adults.
Less confidence and fewer social contacts among unhappy people
Those who see themselves as unhappy think their health is good less often than others. Of the unhappy, 37 percent consider their health to be bad or very bad, while this is 5 percent of the non-unhappy.
A smaller proportion of the unlucky people has daily or weekly contact with family, friends or neighbors than the other over-18s: 87 percent compared to 96 percent. In addition, relatively fewer unhappy people (almost a third) do voluntary work than other people (almost half). Finally, almost 37 percent of the unhappy people indicate that most people can be trusted. Among those who are not unhappy, it is 60 percent.
How exactly the experience of happiness and other characteristics such as health, education and marital status are related and influence each other cannot be determined on the basis of these figures.
I regularly read this kind of positive messages ~ also on Thailandblog.
“Our” government is therefore doing everything it can to make us think positively.
Unfortunately, the feeling of being happy is short-lived… we should not close our eyes and we see that the common man is increasingly being exploited… also by our “own” government.
We all have to bleed for big business and what are labor rights worth.
There is now room for a wage increase, but that will have to be stopped again. Sorry everyone. The earnings go to those who don't need it.
And Education and Care are also doing so well 🙁
I'll leave it at this.
Dear Jan R, It may well be that not everything is optimal in the Netherlands, but name a few countries where it is really better???
Apart from illness or disability, every adult should work for his own happiness and not wait for others or a government to arrange it for him.
In addition, chronic nagging and dissatisfaction make people depressed and in the long run intolerable to those around them.
One should not constantly look at people who are supposedly better off, but at those many who have it a lot worse in this world.
The constant whining and black thinking is driving people all over Europe into the hands of populist parties, which, if they get a majority, certainly do not govern better.
your response is clear, but I myself prefer the group that wants a better Netherlands (for everyone!) and then I cannot be optimistic.
It is such a pity that the citizens of the Netherlands are being heard less and less. And that things are often a lot less well known abroad, but it is not really that important.
We can't figure it out anyway 🙂 but some understanding for each other is never gone.
In almost all these types of studies, the Netherlands scores well to very well.
I have been living permanently in the Netherlands for three months now, after 12 years of residence in Thailand. In the five weeks I spent in the Netherlands in January/February, I had a nice apartment within two weeks. I am single. The registration in the municipality, the registration with the health insurance company, etc. went smoothly.
After moving to the Netherlands permanently at the end of March, everything was well arranged. I had to go to the hospital for Glaucoma treatment, which was done very well in Thailand, by the way, and there was not a long wait for that check-up. You have to get used to the fact that everything goes online and that you are done a lot online at both the doctor and the hospital.
the main reason for returning to the Netherlands was that there was no good and affordable health insurance for me in Thailand. And now I do. I don't have to worry about ailments I could get that were prohibitively expensive for me to treat in Thailand. In the Netherlands I don't have those concerns.
Incidentally, I had a good and good life in those twelve years in Thailand. But here in the Netherlands I am also having a good time. I have no real desire for Thailand. But maybe that will come later.....