Confidence in parliament dips to 10-year low

In the last quarter of last year, only 25 percent of Netherlands residents had confidence in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament. That is the lowest confidence since Statistics Netherlands (CBS) started keeping track of this figure in 2002. Trust in politicians and other political institutions is also very low, the stats office reported on Tuesday.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, in the first quarter of 2020, 31 percent of Netherlands residents aged 15 or older trusted politicians, and 44 percent had confidence in the Tweede Kamer. At the start of the pandemic, that rose to 44 and 58 percent, respectively, but has declined since then. Only 21 percent of Netherlands residents trusted politicians in Q4 of 2022, the lowest in five years.

Trust in other people slowly increased over the past decade, from 48 percent in 2012 to 66 percent last year. Netherlands residents also have a lot of confidence in healthcare (78 percent), the police and judges (77 percent), and the army (64 percent). Trust in these institutions increased slightly over the past ten years.

About half of Netherlands residents have confidence in the European Union and their city council, and only 30 percent trust churches.

People with higher education are more likely to trust other people and political institutions. For example, 40 percent of people with only primary education trusted their fellow human being last year, compared to 89 percent with a university education. “When it comes to trust in private institutions - such as banks and large companies - there are no differences between the different levels of education,” CBS said.