Ethnically diverse, low-educated people experience least prosperity in NL

On average, people with a low education and people who immigrated to the Netherlands in the past few generations score the worst when it comes to general prosperity, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The stats office measured broad prosperity based on thirteen indicators, including well-being, material prosperity, health, work and leisure, housing, society, safety, and the environment.

According to CBS, the outcome for people with a non-Western background is unfavorable on all thirteen points. This is partly due to differences in education level and ages, but even if the figures are corrected for this, ethnically diverse people lag behind in prosperity.

People with a low education level score unfavorably on nine of the thirteen indicators. Young people up to the age of 35 are also more likely to score unfavorably. The opposite is true for the age group 45 to 75 years.

Overall, broad prosperity is currently high, according to CBS. Unemployment is decreasing, and more people between the ages of 15 and 75 are joining the labor market. Disposable income is growing. The proportion of highly educated people in the population is also increasing. Employee satisfaction with their work is on the rise. And the air quality is improving, the Netherlands' Nature Network is expanding, and the percentage of the population that fell victim to a crime is falling.

Trust in people and institutions like the police, judges, and parliament declined last year. Still, 66.9 percent of Netherlands residents continent to trust these institutions - a high percentage, according to the stats office.

The number of people with mental health problems increased due to the coronavirus pandemic and a decrease in social contacts. This is partly the result of the lockdown measures but also because people worked more and more often at home. Sports activities together also happened less. All this increased the risk of loneliness, psychological complaints, and inequality of opportunity. Just under 84 percent of people gave their life a score of 7 or higher out of ten. That is the lowest percentage since CBS started tracking general prosperity in 1997.

Statistics Netherlands also pointed to the continuing pressure on nature as part of the general prosperity. There are fewer and fewer animal species and plants. There is also less "green-blue" space for people to relax in. The quality of surface water is under pressure, and CO2 emissions increased again in 2021.