NL still far from reaching healthy lifestyle targets

The number of occasional smokers and excessive drinkers in the Netherlands decreased slightly last year, but the number of heavy drinkers and overweight people remained about stable, according to the 2020 Lifestyle Monitor by Statistics Netherlands, the RIVM and the Trimbos Institute. The number of Netherlands residents with an unhealthy lifestyle is still far above the targets set in the National Prevention Agreement for 2040.

Last year 20 percent of adults said the sometimes smoke, 2 percent less than the year before. 15 percent of adult Netherlands residents smoked daily last year, the same as in 2019. The number passive smokers, non-smoking Dutch adults who inhale second-hand smoke from a smoker near them, decreased last year. 79 percent of adults never or almost never inhaled second-hand smoke last year, compared to 75 percent in 2019. And 16 percent were exposed to second-hand smoke often, but not every day, a 4 percent decrease compared to 2019.

Last year 7 percent of Dutch adults were excessive drinkers - men who drank more than 21 glasses of alcohol per week and women who drank more than 14 glasses per week. That is a slight decrease compared to 8.5 percent in 2019. The number of heavy drinkers - at least 6 glasses for men and 4 glasses for women in one day at least once per week - remained stable at 8 percent.

In the Prevention Agreement the government and civil society organizations agreed to reduce smoking and problematic alcohol consumption to 5 percent of adults by 2040.

Last year, exactly half of Dutch adults were overweight and 13.9 percent were obese - virtually the same as the year before. The number of overweight and obese children also remained basically unchanged at 14.7 percent and 2.5 percent respectively.

The Prevention Agreement aims to reduce the number of overweight adults to 38 percent, and obese adults to 7.1 percent, and overweight children to 9.1 percent and obese children to 2.3 percent.