Distribution of well-being: summary

More in-depth information about the distribution of well-being is provided here. In the analysis, we look at 13 well-being indicators to see how they are distributed across groups based on sex, age, educational attainment and origin. We also consider whether favourable or unfavourable well-being outcomes accumulate at the individual level within those groups. 

Sex:

• There are differences between men and women for a number of indicators. Not all the differences are very large, but it is clear that well-being is more positive than average for men and slightly less positive than average for women.
• There has been little change in well-being for either men or women since 2019. The trend has been slightly more positive than average for men and slightly less positive than average for women.

Age:

• The picture with regard to well-being is least favourable for 25 to 34-year-olds, but the under-25s also have below-average well-being. Well-being is far more favourable for 55 to 64-year-olds.
• Since 2019, the development of well-being has been less favourable for age groups below 55. The development has been least favourable for under-25s, whereas it has been relatively favourable for 55 to 64-year-olds.

Education:

• There are large differences in well-being between those with higher vocational or university education on the one hand (high well-being) and people with primary education or a prevocational secondary (VMBO) qualification on the other hand (low well-being).
• Those with higher vocational or university education have seen more unfavourable than favourable changes since 2019.

Origin:

• People born in the Netherlands with both parents also born in the Netherlands have relatively high well-being and have seen a relative improvement since 2019.
• People born outside Europe have seen more unfavourable than favourable changes since 2019.

Accumulation:

• Favourable and unfavourable outcomes sometimes accumulate at the individual level.
• Favourable outcomes accumulate much more for those with higher vocational or university education than for people with a VMBO qualification at most. Unfavourable outcomes are more likely to accumulate for the latter.
• Further substantial differences in accumulation can be observed by age and origin. For instance, 65 to 74-year-olds are relatively likely to experience an accumulation of unfavourable outcomes.
• People born in the Netherlands with parents born in the Netherlands are more likely to be at the top of the distribution, and less likely to be at the bottom. People in the group born in the Netherlands with at least one parent born elsewhere in Europe are also more likely to be at the top of the distribution. However, this group contains significantly more people with an unfavourable accumulation than among those of Dutch origin. People born outside Europe are significantly more likely to be towards the bottom and less likely to be towards the top of the distribution.

Summary overview

The analyses of the distribution of well-being describe the situation in 2024 in terms of the selected indicators (2023 for income, wealth, victim rates and housing ratio) and the development since 2019 for population groups by sex, age, educational attainment and origin. They also provide a picture of whether and how favourable and unfavourable outcomes accumulate for certain individuals and what the characteristics of those individuals are.

Indicators in 2024

The selected indicators show that well-being correlates strongly with origin, educational attainment, and to a lesser extent age.

• Sex: the differences between men and women are not as large as between the other population groups, but the picture is more positive for men than for women. Six indicators show a more favourable than average outcome for men, while one aspect of well-being shows a more favourable than average outcome for women. When the correlations between sex on the one hand and age, educational attainment and origin on the other are taken into account (the multivariate analysis), the above pattern does not change.
• Age: the picture for the youngest age groups (under 25 and 25 to 34) is relatively often unfavourable. By contrast, there are many favourable outcomes for people in the 55 to 64 age group; seven, compared to two unfavourable. This picture shifts somewhat once the correlations between age on the one hand and sex, educational attainment and origin on the other are taken into account. After correcting for these effects, the situation for those aged 75 or over in particular improves. There are several unfavourable shifts for age groups from age 25 to 54. The deterioration in the picture after correction is most marked for the 25 to 34 age group.
• Educational attainment: as in previous editions of the monitor, we see major differences according to level of educational attainment. People with primary education or a prevocational secondary (VMBO) qualification and, to a lesser extent, those with senior general secondary (HAVO), pre-university (VWO) or secondary vocational (MBO) qualifications, have more unfavourable than favourable outcomes. Among those with higher vocational or university education, there are two unfavourable outcomes, whereas their outcomes are positive for ten indicators. When the correlations between educational attainment on the one hand and sex, age, and origin on the other are taken into account, this picture is reinforced to a degree. The picture becomes slightly more unfavourable for people with primary education or a VMBO qualification and slightly more favourable for people with higher vocational or university education.
• Origin: For people born in the Netherlands with parents also born in the Netherlands, the picture is very positive: ten favourable outcomes, alongside three neutral and zero unfavourable. For groups born in the Netherlands but with one or both parents born elsewhere, the picture is much less positive. This is also the case for those who were born abroad themselves, especially those born outside Europe. The situation barely changes when the correlations between origin and sex, age, and educational attainment are taken into account.

Indicators: changes between 2019 and 2024

Looking at the population as a whole, most of the 13 indicators have changed since 2019. For each indicator, an assessment has been made for each population group to determine whether the development for that group is more or less favourable than the average development for the population as a whole. The most notable developments are:

• Sex: there was little change here. The change was more favourable for men than for women only for the ‘impact of environmental problems’ indicator.
• Age: for the age groups under 55 and especially for the youngest age group (under-25s), the number of relatively unfavourable changes was greater than the number of favourable ones. As a result, well-being decreased slightly in these groups. The group aged 55 to 64, on the other hand, showed relatively favourable changes compared to 2019.
• Educational attainment: For people with primary education or a VMBO qualification, there were more favourable than unfavourable changes. By contrast, among those with higher vocational or university education, the picture was unfavourable, with one relatively favourable change but six unfavourable.
• Origin: The position of people born in the Netherlands whose parents were also born in the Netherlands moved in a positive direction, with four indicators showing relatively favourable changes, and one showing an unfavourable development. Among people born outside Europe, the picture was somewhat negative; for them, there were three unfavourable changes compared with two favourable ones.

Even where there was no significant development in terms of relatively more or less favourable, a figure may have changed since 2019. This applies both to the overall figures and to the figures for each group. The detailed figures by reporting year, indicator and population group are available at Custom made Monitor Brede Welvaart 2025.

Accumulation

The accumulation analysis considers how favourable and unfavourable well-being outcomes accumulate individually for the same persons, and what the characteristics of those persons are. Nine indicators are included in the analysis.
The top end of the distribution – the group that has favourable well-being for seven or more indicators – comprises 24.3 percent of the adult population. The bottom end – people with three or more unfavourable outcomes – makes up 18.1 percent of the population. We see the following differences among the subpopulations:

• Sex: there is a limited difference between men and women in the accumulation of favourable outcomes. Men are slightly more often at the top end of the distribution.
• Age: people aged 45 to 64 are relatively likely to accumulate favourable outcomes, while those aged 65 or over are much less likely to do so. The group aged 65 to 74 most often experience an accumulation of unfavourable outcomes.
• Educational attainment: there are major differences visible here. Accumulations of favourable outcomes are common among people with higher vocational or university education; accumulations of unfavourable outcomes, on the other hand, are common among people with primary education or a VMBO qualification.
• Origin: here, too, there are fairly large differences. People born outside Europe are relatively often found towards the bottom and less often towards the top of the distribution. People born in the Netherlands but with one or two parents born outside the Netherlands, and people themselves born elsewhere in Europe, are slightly more likely to be in the top group and slightly less likely to be in the bottom group compared with people born outside Europe. People born in the Netherlands with both parents also born in the Netherlands show relatively large accumulations of favourable outcomes and small accumulations of unfavourable outcomes.

If we take the correlations between sex, age, educational attainment and origin into account, educational attainment turns out to have the biggest influence on the number of indicators for which people have favourable or unfavourable outcomes, followed by origin and age. Country of birth outside Europe correlates slightly more with the number of unfavourable indicators and age slightly more with the number of favourable indicators. Sex is the least important.

Accumulation: changes compared with 2019

Compared with 2019, the group at the top of the distribution has shrunk slightly. The group at the bottom is also smaller in 2024 than it was in 2019. This means that more people fall into the middle group (i.e. with no accumulation of favourable or unfavourable outcomes).

If we look at the various population groups, we notice a number of things:

• The proportion of men at the top of the distribution has fallen, while the proportion of women has not changed. The bottom of the distribution has shrunk slightly less for men than for women. The middle group has grown for both men and women since 2019.
• As for changes in the different age groups, we observe that the share of 18 to 44-year-olds in the middle group has grown. Among 18 to 24-year-olds and 35 to 44-year-olds, this is largely because the group at the top has shrunk, whereas among 25 to 34-year-olds, the group at the bottom of the distribution is smaller than it was in 2019. People aged 65 to 74 in particular are more likely to be at the top of the distribution than in 2019.
• For the different levels of educational attainment, we see movement towards the middle. The groups at the top and bottom of the distribution have grown smaller. The group in the middle of the distribution has grown larger. However, those with primary education or a VMBO qualification still lag a considerable distance behind.
• In terms of origin, the most notable change compared with 2024 is that a greater proportion of people born in the Netherlands with one or both parents born outside Europe were in the middle group of the distribution. This is mainly because their share in the top group has fallen. A comparable shift towards the middle group may be observed for people who were born outside Europe themselves.