Author(s): Paul Bokern, Linda Fernandez Beiro
Young people in the Caribbean Netherlands: Student survey results

1. Introduction

How are young people doing, and what do they need to achieve their full potential? These are the questions that policymakers and researchers set out to answer. The circumstances of young people in the Netherlands are monitored in the National Youth Monitor, which is carried out by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS). The monitor provides an up-to-date picture of the circumstances of Dutch young people in the following areas: family, education, safety and justice, health and well-being and work. The figures from the monitor are available through the Youth Monitor StatLine (CBS, 2025), as well as in the Annual Youth Monitor Report (CBS, 2024).

Young people in the Caribbean Netherlands are included in the National Youth Monitor, but there is less data available than on young people in the European Netherlands. The Caribbean Netherlands Student Survey is carried out to fill this gap and gain a clearer picture of the lives of young people in Bonaire, Saba, and St Eustatius. The survey is distributed among students of up to 18 years old in secondary education and MBO; the questions concern the students’ well-being, health, leisure activities, household and care tasks, financial situation, education, and plans for the future.

This article describes some of the results of the 2024 Caribbean Netherlands Student Survey. Some of the variables discussed are compared with the results of the 2020 survey. The article specifically includes the variables that concern how young people feel (well-being, health), how they spend their leisure activities, and how they see the future. The latter is a major theme among young people in the Caribbean Netherlands, partly because enrolling in higher education involves leaving the islands. The themes of work, education, and family situation are beyond the scope of this article, but are regularly discussed in the Annual Report Youth Monitor. Additionally, more info on those themes can be found in the Youth Monitor StatLine (CBS, 2025b).

The main question of this article is as follows: how are young people in Bonaire, Saba, and St Eustatius doing? The question involves several sub questions, namely:

  • How is the well-being of students in the Caribbean Netherlands?
  • How do they perceive their own health?
  • What do they do in their spare time?
  • What are their plans for the future?