St Eustatius has highest life satisfaction in Caribbean Netherlands

People living on St Eustatius give their own happiness and other aspects of life satisfaction a higher score than people on Bonaire and Saba. On St Eustatius, 60 percent of residents say that their daily lives have got better or much better over the past five years. However, life has not improved for every resident: 45 percent of people on Saba say that their everyday lives have got worse or much worse. On Bonaire the percentage is 29 percent, and on St Eustatius it is 8 percent. This is according to new figures on life satisfaction, happiness and trust in the Caribbean Netherlands, based on a survey carried out by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

Residents of Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba give their own happiness a score of between 8.0 and 8.5. The scores for the individual aspects of life satisfaction range between 7.2 and 8.4. People on St Eustatius were more satisfied with their financial situation in 2025 than they were in 2021. There was little change in the scores on other aspects of life satisfaction between these two years. On Bonaire and Saba, there were no changes in the happiness and satisfaction scores between 2021 and 2025.

The majority of people on St Eustatius see an improvement in their lives

When asked whether everyday life for people on the island where they live had got better, got worse or stayed the same over the previous five years, 60 percent of people on St Eustatius replied that daily life has (significantly) improved. That was more than on Bonaire (37 percent) and Saba (33 percent).

On Saba, 45 percent of people said that their everyday life had got worse or much worse. On Bonaire the percentage was 29 percent, and on St Eustatius it was 8 percent. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) did not ask respondents about the underlying reasons for their responses.

Residents of St Eustatius are the most satisfied with local government on the island

The survey also asked respondents how satisfied they were with local government on the island. This refers to the bodies responsible for local administration on their respective islands. On Bonaire, a quarter of people said they were (very) satisfied with local government on their island; on St Eustatius, over half (54 percent) said they were satisfied; and on Saba, 28 percent said they were satisfied.

On Bonaire, one in three people said they were (very) dissatisfied with local government on the island. On St Eustatius the figure was 10 percent, and on Saba it was 27 percent. People on St Eustatius were the most satisfied with the functioning of local government on the island, and people on Bonaire were the least satisfied.

People on Bonaire and Saba are less satisfied with national government than people on St Eustatius

Respondents were also asked about the functioning of the national government of the Netherlands, including bodies such as the Government Agency for the Caribbean Netherlands (Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland). People on St Eustatius had the highest level of satisfaction with the functioning of local government on the island, and people on Bonaire and Saba were the least satisfied. People on these two islands were more likely to be dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the national government. On all three islands, around 38 percent of people were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.