Fewer young people receiving youth care in 2025

Young people in a bus station
© CBS
  • In 2025, the number of young people receiving youth care fell by almost 3 percent compared with 2024.
  • Of all forms of youth care, only the number of young people in youth rehabiliation services has increased.
  • Youth care is the most common among young people aged 12 to 18.

477 thousand young people received youth care in 2025. That was 2.8 percent less than in 2024. Excluding the pandemic year of 2020, this is the first fall since 2015 – the year when local authorities became responsible for providing youth care. Of the three main forms of youth care, the numbers of young people in youth assistance and youth protection are falling, while the number of young people in youth rehabilitation is rising. This is evident from provisional figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

Youth assistance is the most common form of youth care, with 469 thousand young people receiving it in 2025. The number receiving youth assistance was down by 2.8 percent in 2025, year on year. Youth assistance involves helping young people with mental health, psychosocial and/or behavioural problems or learning difficulties, and supporting parents who have difficulty with parenting. In principle, youth assistance is meant for young people up to the age of 18, but can be extended to the age of 23.

Young people in youth protection down by 3 percent

Almost 33 thousand young people were in youth protection in 2025. That was a fall of 3.3 percent, year on year.

Young people are placed in youth protection by a court of law if their safety and development are judged to be at risk. They are then placed ‘under supervision’ or ‘under guardianship’. Youth protection ends as soon as a young person turns 18.

More young people in youth rehabilitation

In 2025, nearly 9 thousand young people were subject to youth rehabilitation, 4.5 percent more than in 2024. Youth rehabilitation is intended for young people aged 12 to 18 who, before they turn 18, come into contact with the police or a truancy officer.

Significant differences between local authorities

Of all young people aged under 23 in the Netherlands, 10.8 percent were receiving youth care in 2025. This share varies by municipality – from 5 percent to over 15 percent. There are a range of explanations for this variation. Municipalities are free to arrange youth care in the way that they see fit, which leads to differences between municipalities in the amount and type of youth care that is available.

In addition, socio-economic differences between regions can also play a role, such as income levels and the number of single-parent families. The use of other care services also plays a role – for example, care provided under the Health Insurance Act, the Social Support Act or the Long-Term Care Act.

High levels of youth assistance for males and females aged 12 to 18 years

A total of 22.4 percent of all young people receiving youth assistance in 2025 were females aged 12 to 18. The next largest groups were males of the same age (19.2 percent) and males aged 8 to 12 (18.4 percent).

In the younger age groups – from 0 to 4 years, 4 to 8 years and 8 to 12 years – the number of females is significantly lower than the number of males. There has been hardly any change in this in recent years. 3.2 percent of all young people receiving youth assistance are aged 18 or over, with roughly equal numbers of males and females.

Fewer GP referrals for youth assistance

In 2025, nearly 97 thousand new cases were referred to youth assistance providers by GPs. GPs accounted for 33.5 percent of referrals in 2025, compared with 38.0 percent in 2021. In 2025, 33.3 percent of cases were referred by a local authority, compared with 31.8 percent in 2021.

No referral is required for youth assistance overseen by the local council team itself. The share of cases falling into this group rose from 13.1 percent in 2021 to 15.9 percent in 2025. Due to these shifts in referrals, municipalities have an increasing degree of control over the provision of youth assistance and referrals to youth assistance providers.