More Dutch people treated disrespectfully by strangers on the street, especially women

Last year, 18 percent of residents of the Netherlands said that strangers sometimes or often treated them disrespectfully on the street, up from 15 percent in 2021. This happens more often to women and to city residents, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Thursday.

Disrespectful behavior - behavior that respondents consider crossed the boundaries of good manners - increased the most on the streets since 2021. Though respondents also experienced more disrespectful treatment on public transport (13% in 2025, 9% in 2021) and from retail staff (11% in 2025, 9% in 2021). Fewer people reported being treated disrespectfully by government employees (6.7% in 2025, 7.5% in 2021).

Women experience disrespectful behavior more often than men across all age groups, but especially among young people. A quarter of girls and women aged 15 to 25 were treated disrespectfully last year, compared to 16.7 percent of boys and men in the same age group. Among women, this age group is treated disrespectfully most often. Among men, it is the 25 to 45 age group, 18.3 percent of whom experienced disrespectful behavior last year, compared to 21.9 percent of women.

Disrespectful behavior is also more common in cities than in smaller towns and villages. Last year, 24.4 percent of city dwellers were treated disrespectfully by someone else, compared to 10.9 percent of residents of non-urban municipalities.