Well-being is higher among men than among women

The concept of well-being includes many more aspects than people’s income and assets. It is also about how healthy and contented people feel, their experiences of work and whether they trust societal institutions and other people. Looking at these different aspects both individually and in the round, they are not distributed evenly across the population.

The distribution of well-being is shown using thirteen indicators that cover the themes of subjective well-being, material prosperity, health, work and leisure, housing, society, security and the environment. In some cases, specific sections of the population scored higher or lower than average on each of these indicators. Deviations from the average may be favourable or unfavourable, depending on whether they lead to an increase or a de-crease in overall well-being.

Average well-being of women falls further behind that of men

Women see less favourable outcomes than average on six of the 13 well-being indicators, while for men this is only the case for one indicator. In the previous edition of the Monitor of Well-being, women saw less favourable outcomes on four indicators, compared to one for men. Specifically, the results are less favourable for women in the areas of labour force participation and health. In addition, there are more limited differences when it comes to satisfaction with work, trust in other people and societal institutions, and the extent to which people experience adverse effects from environmental problems in their living envi-ronment. Men scored above average on all these points. The only area in which they scored less favourably than average was on crime (i.e. men were more likely to be a victim of crime).

Youngest age groups have the lowest well-being

Among the youngest age group (24 years and below), the results are less favourable than average on seven of the 13 indicators. People in this youngest group have less money to spend, have less wealth and spend more of their income on housing in relative terms. They are also less satisfied with their lives in general and with their leisure time than average, and they are more likely to become victims of crime. The outcomes for the 25-34 age group are also more unfavourable than average.

At the same time, these younger ages groups score better than average in the areas of health, labour force participation and trust in institutions.

Among older age groups (those aged between 45 and 64), favourable outcomes are clearly predominant. This group scores better than average on indicators concerning material pros-perity and they are more satisfied with their work.

Relatively large differences according to level of educational attainment and cultural background

As in previous years, there are relatively large divergences between people of different levels of educational attainment and different cultural backgrounds (i.e. country of birth and parents’ country of birth). Favourable outcomes prevail clearly among those with a degree from university or college (HBO), and also among people born in the Netherlands whose parents were also born in the Netherlands.

Men somewhat more likely to see an accumulation of favourable outcomes than women

The study looked not only at group averages, but also at the extent to which favourable or unfavourable outcomes accumulate among certain members of society. It was only possible to carry out these calculations for nine of the 13 indicators of well-being, and this was done for people aged 18 and above. If an individual had favourable results on seven or more of these indicators, they were classed as experiencing an accumulation of favourable out-comes. Around 24 percent of people were in this category in 2024. If an individual had unfavourable results for three or more indicators, they were classed as experiencing an accumulation of unfavourable outcomes. This was the case for around 18 percent of people in 2024.

The accumulation of favourable outcomes is slightly more common among men than wom-en, at 27 percent versus 22 percent, while the accumulation of unfavourable outcomes is slightly more common among women (20 percent among women versus 17 percent among men). Specifically, women are less likely than men to enjoy favourable outcomes for health, labour force participation, income and trust.

However, when it comes to the accumulation of well-being, the differences between men and women are smaller than the differences associated with other characteristics. The accumulation of well-being is relatively common among those aged 45-64 years and, by contrast, much less common among those aged 65 and above. It is also relatively common among those who have graduated from university or college (HBO) and among people who were born in the Netherlands and whose parents were also born in the Netherlands.

The accumulation of unfavourable outcomes is the most common among those whose highest level of education is primary education or prevocational secondary education (VMBO), and among those who were born outside Europe.