Distribution of well-being: health

Health concerns being healthy and feeling healthy, and relates to physical, mental and social welfare. Good health has intrinsic value for people, it enables them to retain control over their lives and increases their chances of participating actively and equally in society.

The differences between population groups are measured in terms of self-perceived health. How people experience their health is strongly correlated with their well-being: poor health is often linked to lower well-being (Statistics Netherlands, 2016) and can cause problems with work, social life and housing, for example. More information on the health of the Dutch population can be found on StatLine (Statistics Netherlands, 2024a).

• In 2024, 77 percent of the Dutch population judged their own health to be good or very good.
• Men, people aged 34 and younger, those with higher vocational or university education, people born in the Netherlands whose parents were also born in the Netherlands and people born in the Netherlands with one parent born outside Europe were more likely than average to rate their health as good or very good.
• In 2024, the proportion of people describing their own health as good or very good was 2 percentage points lower than in 2019.

Perceived health

Situation in 2024

People’s perception of their own health is a good indicator of the general state of health – the specific indicator used for this is the percentage of people who rate their own health as good or very good. In 2024, 77 percent of the Dutch population judged their own health to be good or very good.

• More men than women say their health is good or very good. There are also more women than men with chronic illnesses, physical disabilities and pain-related limitations (Statistics Netherlands, 2024b).
• The percentage of people who perceive their own health as good or very good decreases with age. Up to and including the 25 to 34 age group, people are more likely than average to judge their health positively, whereas those aged 45 and above are less likely to do so. Older people are also more likely to have health problems such as chronic illnesses, physical disabilities and pain-related limitations.
• People with higher vocational or university education are more likely than average to report being in good or very good health. People with primary education or a prevocational secondary (VMBO) qualification are well below the average.
• People born in the Netherlands with parents also born in the Netherlands are slightly more positive than average about their own health. The same applies to those born in the Netherlands with at least one parent born in a country outside Europe. By contrast, people themselves born outside Europe are less positive than average.

The characteristics of sex, age, educational attainment and origin/country of birth are correlated. For example, people with primary education or a VMBO qualification are, on average, older than people with higher vocational or university education. This is accounted for by standardising the figures, correcting for the differences between groups with regard to the above characteristics. Based on standardised figures, the difference in self-perceived health between those with higher vocational or university education and those with primary education or a VMBO qualification is smaller. Nevertheless, based on standardised figures, the self-perceived health of people with primary education or a VMBO qualification remains relatively low and that of people with higher vocational or university education remains relatively high. The other differences between population groups described above also remain statistically significant after standardisation. The only exception to this is the self-perceived health of people born in the Netherlands with one or both parents born outside Europe. This group contains a relatively large number of younger people who, generally speaking, are more likely to report good or very good health. After standardisation correcting for this relatively low age, the self-perceived health of this group is revealed to be substantially less favourable and below average.

Changes between 2019 and 2024

In 2024, the proportion of people describing their own health as good or very good was 2 percentage points lower than in 2019. Compared with this decrease for the population as a whole, the picture was different among the following groups:

• The proportion with good or very good self-perceived health increased by more than 3 percentage points among those aged 75 and over.
• The self-perceived health of people with higher vocational or university education decreased by almost 4 percentage points.