Resilience

Major shocks, such as the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, affect all aspects of well-being. How capable is the Netherlands of absorbing such shocks? Shock resilience is about whether people can support themselves (‘here and now’), whether nature, society, the economy and important systems are strong enough (‘later’ and ‘critical systems’) and how dependent the Netherlands is on the rest of the world (‘elsewhere’).

• Compared to other EU countries, household resources are high or trending upwards across almost all indicators.
• The relative size of vulnerable groups is decreasing.
• Dutch society is characterised by high levels of trust on the one hand, and small tears in the social fabric on the other.

Compared to other EU countries, household resources are high or trending upwards. The only exception is perceived health, which is stable and neither high nor low compared to the EU-27. Households are currently better able to support themselves in the event of a shock than in previous years. They are also more resilient in this area than households in other countries. The relative size of vulnerable groups (people with no basic educational qualifications, the unemployed, those in low-income self-employment and people with health problems), who are the first to feel the effects of a shock, is decreasing.

Dutch society is characterised by high levels of trust on the one hand, and small tears in the social fabric on the other. Trust in other people is increasing and was the second-highest of 19 EU countries in 2023. Trust in institutions is also relatively high. In contrast, the most recent figures – for the period between 2021 and 2023 – show a slight decrease in social cohesion in residential neighbourhoods. Compared to other EU countries, the group of people who felt discriminated against in 2023 was relatively large.

A bank’s equity and the risk it faces due to outstanding loans provides an indication of whether it is sufficiently resilient to a prolonged period of low growth, high interest rates and high inflation. Overall, Dutch banks have 16.5 percent equity relative to their total risk-weighted assets. The Netherlands ranks 20th out of 27 countries in this area, which is not low, but below average. The government’s ability to operate effectively is trending downwards. While public debt fell to 43.3 percent of GDP in 2024, the effectiveness of public administration and the rule of law is gradually decreasing.

In 2024, the Netherlands relied on foreign energy imports for 68.9 percent of its energy use. Meanwhile, the share of renewable energy in gross national energy consumption has grown significantly (from 6.5 percent in 2017 to 17.4 percent in 2023). Dependence on energy imports has levelled off, ending the previous upward trend. Exports account for more than a third of gross domestic product (35.2 percent in 2023).