55% sent physical Christmas cards this year, while 23% opt for texts

This year, 58 percent of Dutch people say they send a Christmas card, down from 63 percent last year, according to new figures from the Hart van Nederland panel. Of all respondents, 55 percent send a physical Christmas card, while 3 percent send a digital card.

In contrast, the number of people who prefer to send a text message rose from 20 percent last year to 23 percent this year.

Yet almost one in five Dutch people does nothing whatsoever with holiday greetings. Nineteen percent say they send neither a Christmas card nor a message, up from 17 percent last year.

The panel survey also shows that 24 percent of people in the Netherlands feel lonely at this time of year. Within that group, 10 percent feel lonelier than usual around Christmas, while 14 percent say they feel just as lonely as always.

PostNL, the country’s main postal service, announced it will raise the price of a postage stamp to 1.40 euros this year and next year, up from 1.31 euros. The price had already been increased by 10 percent in July.

PostNL said the new rate is necessary due to a decline in the number of letters being sent and rising operational costs.