Life style; personal characteristics

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Characteristics Smoking behaviour, 12 years or older Smoking status Smokers (%) Smoking behaviour, 12 years or older Smokers Daily smokers in the population (%) Passive smoking among non-smokers (Almost) never (%) Alcohol consumption, 12 years or older Guideline alcohol use, 12 plus (%) Drug use, 12 years or older Use of cannabis Last year (%)
Total persons 17.0 11.5 84.8 48.3 7.0
Sex: Male 20.2 13.7 83.0 39.7 9.2
Sex: Female 13.9 9.3 86.4 56.9 4.8
Age: 0 to 3 years . . 96.6 . .
Age: 4 to 11 years . . 95.9 . .
Age: 12 to 15 years 2.1 0.5 82.5 85.6 0.3
Age: 16 to 19 years 20.1 9.7 62.7 43.4 16.3
Age: 20 to 29 years 23.8 12.2 68.9 34.0 18.5
Age: 30 to 39 years 22.0 13.7 81.5 40.9 10.4
Age: 40 to 49 years 18.4 12.5 83.2 45.1 5.9
Age: 50 to 54 years 21.0 16.4 84.7 47.3 6.3
Age: 55 to 64 years 16.9 14.0 88.3 49.6 2.5
Age: 65 to 74 years 12.1 10.1 90.2 50.0 1.1
Age: 75 years or older 7.2 6.1 92.9 65.2 0.1
Age: 0 to 11 years . . 96.1 . .
Age: 12 to 17 years 7.9 3.7 75.8 70.8 5.7
Age: 18 years or older 17.8 12.1 83.6 46.4 7.1
Pre-primary and primary education 23.9 20.4 85.0 67.8 4.5
Lower secondary education 22.9 19.1 83.9 57.4 5.3
Upper secondary 19.5 14.2 84.5 47.0 5.0
Bachelor degrees 12.3 6.6 85.1 41.6 6.5
Master degrees and doctorate 9.7 4.3 90.3 38.9 5.7
Source: CBS.
Explanation of symbols

Table explanation


This table contains data on life style of the Dutch population in private households. These data can be grouped by several personal characteristics.

Data available from: 2014.

Status of the data: final.

Changes by March 13, 2026:
The figures for 2025 have been added. The table has been expanded with information on 'Drug use, excluding cannabis' and 'Use of drugs, total' (in the past month, past year, and ever). Finally, the personal characteristic of poverty (categorized as poor, almost poor, and not poor and not almost poor) has been added.

When will new data be published?
Data on reporting year 2026 will be published in the second quarter of 2027.

Description topics

Smoking behaviour, 12 years or older
Questions on smoking behaviour are asked to persons aged 12 years or older.
Smoking status
Smokers
The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who answered ‘Yes’ to the question: ‘Do you ever smoke?’

From 2014 to 2017, the introductory text for this question was: ‘Now some questions about smoking.’ From 2018 to 2019 this text was changed in: ‘Now some questions about smoking. We mean smoking of all kinds of tobacco products here, but not the use of an electronic cigarette.’
Smokers
The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who answered ‘Yes’ to the question: ‘Do you smoke?’.

From 2014 to 2017, the introductory text for this question was: ‘Now some questions about smoking.’ From 2018 to 2019 this text was changed in: ‘Now some questions about smoking. We mean smoking of all kinds of tobacco products here, but not the use of an electronic cigarette.’ From 2020 this introduction text was replaced by ‘Now some questions about smoking. We mean smoking of all kinds of tobacco products here, but not the use of an electronic cigarette or a device in which tobacco is heated (heat stick, heat-not-burn), such as the IQOS’.
Daily smokers in the population
The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who answered Yes’ to the question ‘Do you smoke every day?
Passive smoking among non-smokers
Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke from nearby smokers while being indoors. The table shows the distribution of answers to the question among people who do not smoke themselves: ‘How often do you (or: does your child) get exposed indoor to tobacco smoke from other people?’.

From 2019 onwards, the answer options were replaced by ‘Never or almost never’, ‘Less than once a week’, ‘Once a week but not every week’, ‘Daily, less than 1 hour a day’ and ‘Daily, one hour or more a day’. These data are not comparable to the data of 2015-2018.
(Almost) never
Percentage of people with answer category ‘never of almost never’ to the question: ‘How often do you (or: does your child) get exposed indoor to tobacco smoke from other people?’.
Alcohol consumption, 12 years or older
The questions on consuming alcohol are asked to all persons aged 12 years or older.
Guideline alcohol use, 12 plus
The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older that meet the guideline on alcohol use. Since 2014, the guideline for persons aged 12 to 18 years is: do not drink until you are 18 years old. Since 2015, the guideline for adults is: do not drink or at most 1 glass per day. This guideline originates from the Guidelines for Good Nutrition (in Dutch: Richtlijnen Goede Voeding) of the Dutch Health Council.
Drug use, 12 years or older
The questions about drug use are asked to all persons aged 12 or older. The following drug types are asked whether they have ever been used and, if so, when was the last time:
• Cannabis (hashish, weed, marijuana)
• Amphetamine (such as pep and speed)
• XTC (ecstasy, MDMA)
• LSD
• Magic mushrooms (hallucinogenic mushrooms)
• Cocaine (also crack, basecoke, freebase)
• Heroine (horse, smack or brown)
• GHB or GBL
• Methadone (included in the questionnaire up to and including 2022)
• 4-Fluoroamphetamine (4-FA, 4-FMP or Flux) (included in the questionnaire from 2018 up to and including 2022)
• Ketamine (included in the questionnaire from 2023)
• 3-MMC (Poes or 3M) (included in the questionnaire from 2023)
• Laughing gas (figures in the table from reporting year 2023 onwards)
• Other drugs
The answer categories for each type of drug are:
• Yes, in the last 30 days
• Yes, in the last 12 months, but not in the last 30 days
• Yes, more than 12 months ago
• No, never used
Use of cannabis
Based on the question about the use of cannabis (hashish, weed, marijuana)
Last year