Many Dutch municipalities with a university or college have more young female residents than young male residents, Statistics Netherlands reported on Wednesday. The difference is biggest in Utrecht, where there are only 73 men for every 100 women in the age group 20 to 25 years old.
Leiden counts 74 young men for a 100 young women, Maastricht 76, Nijmegen 77 and Wageningen 79. Also in Amstelveen and Weesp, where many Amsterdam students live, there are more young women than young men.
Nowhere else in Europe do young women work as few hours as in the Netherlands, according to a study by social and cultural planning office SCP. And nowhere else are the differences between men and women so large - 29 hours per week for women, and 37 hours per week for men, ANP reports.
In 2015 there were a total of 30.803 abortions in the Netherlands, 442 more than in 2014, according to figures from the Healthcare Inspectorate. This is the first time in years that the number of abortions increased. Since 2008 there were fewer abortions each year, ANP reports.
Another first in the new figures is that the most abortions came from the age group 25 to 30 years. Previously women aged 20 to 25 years always had the most abortions.
The wage gap between men and women in the Netherlands is decreasing, mostly due to an increasing level of education among women, according to Statistics Netherlands. Young women in the country now earn more on average than young men.
According to the Statistics Office, this goes hand in hand with the fact that on average young women are better educated than young men. Women under the age of 36 that work for the government earn more on average than their male counterparts. In the industry, women under the age of 30 earn more than their male peers.
