Life style; personal characteristics

Table explanation

Description topics

Smoking behaviour, 12 years or older

Questions on smoking behaviour are asked to persons aged 12 years or older.

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?

Heavy smokers in the population

The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who smoke 20 or more cigarettes per day. Persons who only smoke cigars and/or pipe are not considered to be heavy smokers.

Cigarette smokers

Quitting attempts in the past 12 months

The percentage of the cigarette smokers aged 12 years or older who tried to stop smoking in the last 12 months, and succeeded for at least 24 hours.

Alcohol consumption, 12 years or older

The questions on consuming alcohol are asked to all persons aged 12 years or older.

Drinkers

Heavy drinkers in the population

The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who at least once a week drink 6 or more alcoholic beverages in one day (men) or who at least once a week drink 4 or more of alcoholic beverages in one day (women).

Excessive drinkers in the population

The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who drink at least 21 glasses a week (men) or 14 glasses a week (women).

Up to 1 glass per day in the population

Percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who do not drink or at most 1 glass per day.

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

Other drugs excluding laughing gas

Based on the questions about the use of:
• LSD
• Magic mushrooms (hallucinogenic mushrooms)
• 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)
• Other drugs
It involves the use of 1 or more of these types of drugs. When using several of these types of drugs, the most recently used type of drug is seen as determining the distribution across the categories 'last month', 'last year' and 'ever'.

Last month

Last year

Ever

Sexual health, 16 years or older

The questions on sexual health are asked to persons aged 16 years or older.

High risk sexual activity

Percentage of people aged 16 or older who have had high risk sexual activity. High risk sexual activity is defined as vaginal or anal sex without a condom with someone with whom one does not have a steady relationship.
Up to and including 2023, this concerned the last sexual contact. From 2024 onwards, it concerns sex in the past 12 months. The figures from 2024 onwards are therefore not comparable with the figures from previous years.

In the past 12 months

People aged 16 years or older who had high risk sexual activity in the past 12 months.

Nutrition, 1 year or older, from 2023

The questions about nutrition are asked to all people aged 1 year or older and cover the consumption of meat and fish, fruit, vegetables, sugary drinks, bread and snacks. The nutritional questions are thoroughly revised in 2023. Therefore the figures on fish, fruit and vegetable consumption for the years before 2023 cannot be compared to those from 2023 onwards.

Consumption of fruit

People were asked about the consumption of fruit in a normal week in the previous months. The key figures for fruit consumption come from the Food Consumption Survey (see table explanation).

Meets the fruit guideline

Eats at least 2 portions of fruit every day (from 9 years old) or one and a half portions of fruit (children up to 8 years old). One portion of fruit corresponds to 100 grams. These amounts are advised by the Dutch Nutrition Center. These guidelines are based on the Health Council's Guidelines for a Healthy Diet. The figures on fruit consumption from 2023 cannot be compared to the figures for the years before 2023 due to a change in the question.