Annual Report Youth Monitor 2025 – Summary

The Annual Report Youth Monitor 2025 describes the living situation of young people in the Netherlands. First, it focuses on the demographic trends among young people, followed by developments in the use of youth care, and then it examines the trends in a number of social themes, including children in families on income support, school, work, crime and safety, alcohol and drug use, nutrition and well-being. The living situation of young people in the Caribbean Netherlands is described separately in Chapter 9. This year’s theme-based chapter is about young people’s housing situation and experiences. This summary describes the main outcomes in each chapter.

Chapter 2: Young people in the Netherlands

Over the past ten years, the number of children aged 4 to 11 and 12 to 17 has decreased, whereas the number of 18 to 24‑year-olds has increased. These changes are mainly due to previous fluctuations in the birth rate. At the beginning of 2025, the Netherlands had over 4.9 million young people under the age of 25, representing 27 percent of the Dutch population as a whole. This means the share of young people in the Netherlands is higher than the average in the European Union (EU) (25 percent). At the beginning of 2025, 11.5 percent of young people had been born outside the Netherlands and 20.8 percent had been born in the Netherlands to one or two parents born abroad. Two-thirds of young people were of Dutch origin and were born in the Netherlands to two Dutch-born parents. Most minor children live in a family with a married or unmarried couple. These are usually their biological or legal parents (77 percent), but in some cases there is a blended family (4 percent). Of the nearly 3.3 million minor children, nearly 17 percent live in a single-parent household. This share has continued to increase over the past decade. The corresponding figure was 13 percent in 2005 and 15 percent in 2015. In most cases, the reason why minor children are not registered with both legal parents is parental divorce or separation. In 2024, 27.5 thousand children lived through their parents’ divorce (after marriage or partnership). In the case of children with cohabiting unmarried parents, the corresponding figure was estimated to be nearly 20 thousand. Most young people leave home between the ages of 18 and 30. The share of people in their twenties who have left the parental home has fallen in recent years, however. At the beginning of 2025, 73 percent of 25 to 27‑year-olds had left home, compared to 78 percent a decade earlier. 22 to 24‑year-olds are also more likely to be still registered with their parent(s) than ten years ago. Among 18 to 21‑year-olds, the share having left the parental home was stable at the beginning of 2025 compared to the previous year, although it had increased in the years before that. Of the 18 to 24‑year-olds who no longer lived with their parent(s) at the beginning of 2025, 60 percent were single or single parents. More than a quarter lived with a partner. This share has decreased in recent years. An increasing number of young people are living without a partner (at least initially).

Chapter 3: Youth care

Since 2015, when municipalities became responsible for providing youth care, the number of young people receiving youth care has risen by more than 100 thousand. In 2024, 481 thousand young people received youth care, almost 11 percent of all young people in the Netherlands up to the age of 22. Most youth care recipients received youth assistance (467 thousand). Of these, the largest proportion (341 thousand) received youth assistance in the form of on-site outreach care from the youth assistance provider. The number of young people receiving outreach youth assistance has increased sharply in recent years; in 2015, they numbered 265 thousand. 12 to 17‑year-olds in particular have increasingly relied on outreach youth assistance in recent years. In addition to outreach care, there are three other types of care where the young person sleeps at home: youth assistance from the district or neighbourhood team (69 thousand), day care (38 thousand) and youth assistance in the young person’s network (102 thousand). In the case of residential youth assistance, the young person does not sleep at home but stays with a foster family or in a family home or institution. A total of 41 thousand young people received residential youth assistance in 2024. If a child cannot grow up safely in the family home, the court may grant a youth protection order. The number of young people receiving youth protection has decreased in recent years. In 2024, 25 thousand young people were subject to a supervision order and 9 thousand were under guardianship. The third type of youth care is juvenile rehabilitation. Between 2015 and 2022, the number of young people receiving juvenile rehabilitation fell from 11 thousand to 7 thousand. The number of young people receiving juvenile rehabilitation rose again for the first time in 2023 and continued to grow in 2024. In that year, 8 thousand young people received juvenile rehabilitation. The number of new recommendations and reports in relation to child abuse has also increased since 2019. In 2024, the Safe at Home organisations issued 81 thousand recommendations on how to proceed in cases of actual or suspected child abuse, compared to 52 thousand in 2019. The number of reports of actual or suspected child abuse received by the Safe at Home organisations rose from 56 thousand in 2019 to 66 thousand in 2024.

Chapter 4: Growing up on income support

The number of minors in families on income support has fallen for eight years in succession. At the end of 2024, there were 183 thousand minors in families on income support in the Netherlands. That equates to 5.7 percent of all children under the age of 18. Among minor children growing up in a household relying mainly on social assistance benefits, the share living in poverty is substantially higher than the average among all minor children, namely 21.8 percent versus 3.6 percent in 2023. In 2018, 68.1 percent of minors in families on income support were defined as living in poverty. The share of minors in families on income support living in poverty has decreased annually since then. The decrease was proportionally largest in 2022, the year in which energy allowances were first paid out. The decrease in the number of minors in families on income support living in poverty was accompanied by an increase in the proportion of minors in families on income support living in near poverty. These are children who are not living in poverty but who live in households with limited means and not enough income to cover basic requirements. In 2023, 72 percent of minors in families on income support were living in near poverty. The parents are more likely to live together in the case of minors in families on income support living in poverty than in the case of minors in families on income support living in near poverty. 63 percent of minors in families on income support living in poverty were in two-parent families, whereas in the case of children living in near poverty the figure was 33 percent. Nearly two-thirds of minors in families on income support living in near poverty were growing up in a single-parent family, usually with only the mother. Most minors in families on income support who were living in poverty were born in the Netherlands (63 percent). The remaining 37 percent were foreign-born and therefore migrants. The breakdown is slightly different in the case of minors in families on income support living in near poverty; 73 percent were born in the Netherlands and 27 percent were born abroad. Although many minors in families on income support were born in the Netherlands, they are often of non-Dutch origin, as at least one of their parents was born abroad. Around 35 percent of minors in families on income support living in poverty were born in the Netherlands to two foreign-born parents and 9 percent have one foreign-born parent. The remaining 19 percent were born in the Netherlands to Dutch-born parents. This proportion was larger among minors in families on income support living in near poverty, at 27 percent.

Chapter 5: School

In the 2024/’25 academic year, there were over 190 thousand pupils in the third year of secondary education. Of these pupils, 52 percent were in VMBO, while the others were in HAVO (23 percent), VWO (22 percent) or HAVO/VWO (4 percent). This picture is similar to that of previous academic years. Many young people decide to continue in education after obtaining a secondary education qualification. Some of them leave education or embark on an educational programme that is not funded by the government. The routes that they take into, through and out of the education system has changed in recent years. That is particularly true of pupils in HAVO and VWO, who were more likely to leave education than in previous years. Nearly all pupils gaining a VMBO qualification entered a government-funded educational programme in the following year. That is also to be expected, because pupils with a VMBO qualification do not yet have a basic educational qualification and are therefore still required to obtain one. The majority of pupils who obtain a VMBO diploma move on to MBO. In the 2024/’25 academic year, a total of over 407 thousand students under the age of 25 attended MBO education, mostly in the field of health and well-being. The study choices made by MBO students remained almost unchanged compared to 2021/’22. The only notable change is a 3 percentage point increase in the share of MBO students studying food, nature and the environment. Of the VMBO pupils who qualified in 2022/’23 and subsequently began an MBO programme, 59 percent felt that VMBO provided a good foundation for their continuing education. 30 percent expressed a neutral view and 11 percent thought VMBO did not provide a good foundation. The alignment between the VMBO and MBO programmes was considered good by 31 percent of students and reasonable by 45 percent. 24 percent rated it as mediocre or poor. A large proportion of MBO graduates look back on their choice of programme with satisfaction: more than 7 out of 10 would choose the same MBO programme again.

Chapter 6: Work

More than 2 million young people aged 15 to 26 were in paid employment in 2024. That is equivalent to 77.7 percent of all young people in that age group. This share is slightly lower than in 2023, when 77.9 percent of young people were in employment. This decline therefore brought an end to the rising trend in the labour participation rate observed since 2014, except for a decline at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Those in education were more likely than average to have part-time jobs, but paid internships are also counted as paid employment. In addition to the more than 2 million young people aged 15 to 26 in employment 2024, there were 589 thousand young people who were not in paid employment. This group comprises various subgroups. The largest group of 302 thousand young people were neither looking for nor available for work, mainly because they were enrolled in a training or study programme. There were also 177 thousand unemployed young people. These had recently looked for work and were immediately available. The remaining 110 thousand young people made up the potential additional labour force. The potential additional labour force are either people who are available for work at short notice but have not been looking for work or people who have been looking but are not readily available. More than three-quarters of the unemployed or the potential additional labour force were still in education. Some of the young part-time workers would like to work more hours and are immediately available to do so. These are the underemployed part-time workers. Together with the unemployed and the potential additional labour force, they make up the labour market slack. It is also known how many hours (or additional hours) those making up the labour market slack would like to work. Among both the unemployed and the potential additional labour force, those not in education want to work almost twice as many hours per week as those in education. The corresponding difference among underemployed part-time workers is smaller; those in education want to work an average of 8 hours extra per week and those not in education 11 hours. The majority of young people (94 percent) in work are employees. More than three-quarters of young employed persons are satisfied with their jobs. They also indicate that the most important aspects of a job are good supervisors, a good salary and job security.

Chapter 7: Smoking, vaping, alcohol, drugs and nutrition

The percentage of young adults aged 18 to 24 who smoke has fallen over the past decade from 35 percent in 2014 to 24 percent in 2024. Among 12 to 17‑year-olds, the figure was unchanged at 8 percent. Vaping increased between 2021 and 2023, but the rising trend came to a halt in 2024. An increasing number of young people and young adults are meeting the guidelines on alcohol consumption. In 2024, 70 percent of 12 to 17‑year-olds and 37 percent of young adults met these guidelines. Drug use among young people aged 12 to 17 was stable between 2015 and 2024. In 2024, 5 percent said they had used cannabis in the past 12 months and 1 percent had used another drug (excluding nitrous oxide). Among young adults, cannabis use fell during that period to 17 percent in 2024, while the use of other drugs increased slightly to 15 percent. With regard to nutrition, it is notable that young children in particular met the recommendations concerning fruit and vegetables: 71 percent of 1 to 3‑year-olds and almost half of 4 to 11‑year-olds ate enough vegetables in 2023/2024. In the case of fruit, 51 percent of 1 to 3‑year-olds and 37 percent of 4 to 11‑year-olds ate the recommended amount. These age groups also consume the least sugary drinks. Boys and men aged 1 to 24 drink an average of 9 glasses of sugary drinks per week, more than the 7 glasses consumed on average by girls and women. The average Health Survey Nutrition Score for 1 to 24‑year-olds is a 6.4. The nutrition score ranges from 0 to 10; a higher score indicates that, based on the measured aspects, the nutrition is more in line with the recommendations of the Netherlands Nutrition Centre. The youngest children (aged 1 to 3) have the highest average nutrition score, at 7.3. The score then decreases with increasing age, reaching the lowest level among 16 to 19‑year-olds (5.7). People aged 20 to 24 then have a slightly higher average score. The lower nutrition scores in the 12‑to-24 age groups are related not only to their consumption of vegetables, fruit and sugary drinks, but also to the relatively high amount of snacking in those age groups. Girls and women have a slightly higher average nutrition score than boys and men. This is mainly because they consume less sugary drinks.

Chapter 8: Crime and safety

A total of 37.5 thousand young people were registered as crime suspects in 2024. That is 1.5 percent of all young people aged 12 to 22. This means that the share of young registered suspects again followed the downward trend in 2024, after increases in 2019 and 2022. The fall in the share of young suspects in 2024 occurred in all types of crime, except violent and drug-related crimes, both of which remained unchanged compared to 2023. In the case of more than half of young registered suspects in 2024, it was the first time that they had come into contact with the police. Among 12 to 17‑year-olds, the share was two-thirds of suspects, while among 18 to 22‑year-olds it was almost half. The number of repeat and habitual offenders among minors increased proportionally compared to 2023. Young people may not only end up in crime, but may also become victims of it. As well as traditional crime, young people may also become victims of online crime. In 2024, 20 percent of young people aged 15 to 24 said they had been victims of online crime. They were mainly victims of online scams or fraud (9 percent) and online threats and harassment (9 percent), but some also encountered hacking (5 percent). Young people may also be victims of domestic or sexual violence. Domestic violence can manifest itself as physical and/or psychological violence in a domestic setting and/or stalking by an ex-partner. In 2024, 21 percent of young people aged 16 to 24 were victims of at least one of these forms of violence: 13 percent of young people were victims of psychological violence, while 11 percent suffered physical aggression and 7 percent stalking by an ex-partner. These percentages have remained relatively stable since the inception of the study in 2020. Twenty-eight percent of young people also reported having been a victim of sexually transgressive behaviour in 2024, such as offline sexual harassment (20 percent), online sexual harassment (14 percent) and physical sexual violence (11 percent). Young women were more likely than young men to be victims of offline sexual harassment (32 versus 9 percent), online sexual harassment (21 versus 8 percent) and sexual violence (17 versus 5 percent).

Chapter 9: Young people in the Caribbean Netherlands

The vast majority of young people in the Caribbean Netherlands live on Bonaire. They totalled 6.7 thousand at the beginning of 2025, nearly 1.2 thousand more than in 2020. On St Eustatius and Saba, there were 898 and 518 young people respectively. On Saba, the number of young people increased compared to 2020, whereas on St Eustatius it decreased. The increase in the number of young people on Bonaire and Saba is mainly evident among young people aged 12 and over. Most of the babies on Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba were born to mothers who were not born on the island. On Bonaire, for example, 25 percent of babies were born to mothers born on Bonaire. On St Eustatius, 37 percent had a mother born on the island, while on Saba the figure was 20 percent. The report also covers participation in education, future plans and the labour force participation rate. In the 2024/’25 academic year, almost 5.3 thousand pupils were enrolled in publicly funded primary education, secondary education or secondary vocational education in the Caribbean Netherlands. Of these pupils, more than 2.5 thousand were in primary education and 1.8 thousand were in secondary education. In addition, on St Eustatius and Saba, 47 and 17 students respectively attended classes based on the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ), and on Bonaire 855 students were enrolled in intermediate vocational education (MBO). Of the minor pupils and students enrolled in secondary education or intermediate vocational education in the autumn of 2024, between 42 and 53 percent of those living on the islands said they wanted to continue in education. Young people on Bonaire were also slightly more likely to want to work (18 percent) than young people on St Eustatius (14 percent) or Saba (13 percent). A large majority of pupils in the Caribbean Netherlands said in 2024 that they would like to leave the island and live somewhere else. Young people on St Eustatius and Saba (91 percent) were more likely to want to do this than young people on Bonaire (81 percent). A relatively large proportion of these young people want to leave because the work or education they want is not available on their island, or because they want to see more of the world. In 2024, 60.0 percent of young people aged 15 to 26 on Bonaire were in paid employment. The corresponding figures for Saba and St Eustatius were 42.6 percent and 34.8 percent respectively. More information about the themes of well-being, health and leisure activities can be found in the report ‘Young people in the Caribbean Netherlands: Student survey results’.

Chapter 10: Well-being of young people

Young adults’ happiness, life satisfaction and personal well-being showed no change in 2024 compared to the previous year but remained below the level of the pre-COVID year 2019. In 2024, 81 percent of young adults aged 18 to 24 reported that they were generally happy and 79 percent were satisfied with their lives. In addition, 61 percent of young adults rated their personal well-being as high. Various aspects of personal well-being were measured. In 2024, there were no significant changes compared to the previous year across most dimensions. On the dimension of trust in institutions (parliament, judiciary and the police), however, there was an increase in the share of people with a high score on personal well-being (from 39 percent to 43 percent). This ended the decline recorded since 2021. Although there was hardly any change in most dimensions of young adults’ personal well-being in 2024 compared to 2023, some differences can be seen compared to previous years and the pre-COVID year 2019. For example, the share of young adults with high personal well-being in terms of health returned to the pre-COVID level. Young adults had more negative views on various social issues in 2024 than in 2018. In 2024, 49 percent of young adults saw crime as a serious or very serious problem, and an equally high percentage felt the same about environmental pollution. 43 percent considered the number of people and the mentality of the population to be a serious or very serious problem. Except in the case of environmental pollution, the percentages are much higher than in 2018. The differences are particularly marked when it comes to crime and the number of people (surveyed on the basis of population density in 2018). In 2018, the share of respondents expressing such views with regard to crime was 30 percent and for population density 19 percent. Young adults who were enrolled in higher vocational or university education during the research were less likely to consider crime a serious problem than people enrolled in other programmes. By contrast, those enrolled in higher vocational education or university education are more likely to consider the mentality of the Dutch population and environmental pollution to be serious problems than those who are not enrolled in higher vocacional or university education.

Chapter 11: Housing

In 2024, 17 percent of young households, i.e. those with a main resident between the ages of 18 and 30, lived in non-independent accommodation. This is accommodation that is shared with other residents, where occupiers do not have their own front door or where they share facilities such as a bathroom, toilet and/or kitchen. In the case of young people, this is often a room in a student hall of residence or in digs. The remainder of young households (83 percent) lived in independent accommodation. Among young households living in an independent dwelling, the share living in a private rental home doubled between 2012 and 2024 from 23 to 48 percent. By contrast, the share living in social housing or in an owner-occupied dwelling decreased. In 2024, nearly three-quarters of young primary residents reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their current home. Young people who own a home are more likely to be satisfied than renters: 89 and 69 percent respectively. Not all young people manage to keep their homes comfortably cool. Problems with damp and mould in the home also increased. An increasing proportion of young people living at home want to move out but cannot find anywhere. In 2024, this applied to 19 percent of all 18 to 29‑year-olds. In 2018, the corresponding figure was 6 percent. Among those still living in the parental home and already working, the figure was 32 percent. Young households’ median monthly housing costs amounted to 826 euros in 2023. Young homeowners pay slightly more each month than young renters. Among renters as a whole, the difference is particularly noticeable between those living in social housing (581 euros) and those living in a private rental home (1,026 euros). Monthly housing costs increased between 2018 and 2023, particularly for young private renters. The proportion of income that young people spend on housing costs nevertheless decreased from 28.5 percent to 23.8 percent between 2018 and 2022. This decline did not continue in 2023. The reason why young people are spending a smaller proportion of their income on housing, despite higher housing costs, is that their income rose even faster than their housing costs over that period.