Vast majority of Dutch young adults happy with their life

A massive 85 percent of young adults in the Netherlands were happy with their social life and their life in general last year, Statistics Netherlands reports based no the Annual Report of the National Youth Monitor. With that the proportion of satisfied young people is about equal to the proportion of all adult Dutch that are happy with their lives. 

The youth monitor surveyed around 4 thousand young people between the ages of 18 ad 25 years. On average, people in this age group give their lives a score of 7.6.

Life satisfaction among young adults is very much related to their age, how they live and their level of education, the researchers found. Highly educated young people are more positive than their peers with lower levels of education. And this positivity declines somewhat the older they get. Life satisfaction is also highest among young adults who live with a partner or home with both parents. 

Social life is also a very important factor when it comes to young adults' satisfaction with life, according to the stats office. Here too young people with a higher education level are more satisfied. Statistics Netherlands attributes this to the fact that they participate more often in activities and associations. 

Two-thirds of young adults in the Netherlands play sports on a weekly basis, but they have some unhealthy habits too. A quarter of young adults smoke, 43 percent have used drugs, and 16 percent drink too much. It is especially men with a Dutch background that consume excessive amounts of alcohol. 

A quarter of the young adults in the Netherlands are not satisfied with their personal health, in most cases because they are overweight. Young adults are also often tired. About half of the respondents told the researchers that they felt tired the day before the survey.

There are around 1.4 million young adults in the Netherlands, about 8 percent of the total population. A quarter of them have an immigration background. 64 percent have a paying job and 10 percent are unemployed.