Netherlands has second-highest prosperity in Europe
The Netherlands has the second-highest broad prosperity in the European Union, with only Sweden residents being more satisfied with their lives in the “here and now.” Croatia has the lowest broad prosperity of the 27 EU member states, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported ahead of the European Parliament elections this week.
The study by statistics offices in the EU Member States looked at prosperity in the “here and now” and did not consider consequences for other generations or other countries. They looked at 23 indicators for nine different categories. The Netherlands scored well on 14 indicators, especially trust in others. Our country scored poorly in two. The Netherlands has one of the highest housing ratios in the EU, and it ranked 20th when it came to the healthy life expectancy of women.
The Netherlands scored the best of all EU countries in the work and leisure category, topping the rankings for all five indicators. “Net labor participation is the highest, and long-term unemployment is almost the lowest,” CBS said as an example. Sweden, Ireland, and Denmark also scored particularly well here. Croatia got the lowest scores, followed by Greece and Italy. For example, long-term unemployment is 0.7 percent in the Netherlands and 7.7 percent in Greece. And 36.6 percent of Netherlands residents have higher education qualifications, compared to 16.8 percent in Greece.
The Netherlands also scored well in the society category. In the Netherlands, people have the most contact with family, friends, and neighbors. 74.6 percent of Dutch aged 15 have contact with their loved ones at least once a week. The Netherlands also scored well in terms of trust in other people, participation and accountability, and trust in institutions. Trust in other people is lowest in Poland, and Hungary scored worst when it came to contact with family and friends.
Croatia has the lowest broad prosperity. The country was at the bottom of the EU rankings in 17 areas. Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Greece, and Slovakia also have lower broad prosperity than the rest of the EU.
“With the exception of Greece, all these countries were communist until at least 1989,” CBS said. According to the stats office, the former communist countries almost all have relatively low overall prosperity. “Estonia is the exception,” CBS said. “There, widespread prosperity is even higher than in richer countries like France and Belgium.” It also pointed out that broad prosperity is lower than average in the southern Member States that were not communist and have belonged to the EU and its predecessors for decades, mentioning Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
The statistics offices found that material prosperity does not directly translate into higher prosperity, but “many aspects of broad prosperity are reasonably in line with the material prosperity.”
