SDG 3 Good health and well-being

SDG 3 focuses on promoting good health and well-being for people of all ages. Everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy the best possible health. This can be achieved by treating diseases and mental health problems, and by preventing premature death. This includes improving maternal and childcare, preventing and treating addiction, and reducing the number of road traffic deaths.

• Staff shortages in the health care sector remain high compared to other EU countries and continue to mount.
• People in the Netherlands have reduced their alcohol consumption and smoking over the past few decades.
• Women’s healthy life expectancy is two years shorter than that of men.

Dashboard and indicators

 

Colour codes and notes to the dashboards in the Monitor of Well-being

Resources and opportunities concern the resources used to maintain and improve the health care system. Spending on health care as a percentage of GDP stood at 10.1 percent of GDP in 2024. The percentage of GDP spent on health care is higher in the Netherlands than in most other EU countries. Apart from a spike in 2020 and 2021, the level has been more or less stable since 2009.

The shortage of staff in the health care sector remains significant. The vacancy rate in health and social care is trending upwards. Until 2015, the average number of vacancies per 1,000 jobs was 15. In the following years, the vacancy rate almost tripled, reaching 43 vacancies for every 1,000 jobs. This increase continued until 2022. Since then, the level has remained more or less stable. Compared to other EU countries, the vacancy rate in Dutch health and social care is high and rose more quickly than in most other countries until 2022. Only in Austria was the shortage of care staff higher in 2024.

The number of hours worked in care has been increasing since the 1990s (the start of the time series), improving the ability to provide care to the average person. In 2024, health and social care services recorded an average of 110 hours worked per capita. This number is high compared to other countries (the Netherlands ranked 5th out of 27 EU countries in 2024).

Use concerns behaviour that affects health and people’s usage of health care services. Alcohol consumption in the Netherlands is lower than in other EU countries. Only Sweden and Finland have lower average alcohol consumption rates. For comparison purposes, alcoholic beverages have been converted to litres of pure alcohol based on their alcohol percentages. In the 21st century, the alcohol consumption of Dutch people aged 15 and over has fallen from approximately 10 litres of alcohol per year to approximately 8 litres of alcohol per year in 2023. As such, more and more people meet the alcohol guidelines of the Netherlands’ Health Council and drink no alcohol or no more than one glass per day. The percentage of smokers has also declined steadily during the 21st century, falling from more than a third of the population aged 15 and over to nearly 18 percent in 2025. This includes all types of tobacco products, but not electronic cigarettes. Smoking electronic cigarettes, also known as vaping, increased between 2021 and 2023: from 1 to 4 percent, among the population aged 15 and above. In 2025, the proportion of vapers declined to 3 percent. The proportion of vapers is higher among adolescents and young adults (people aged 15 to 24): 10 percent in 2025.

In 2025, about half the adult population in the Netherlands was overweight (having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 or higher). The figure has been stable for a number of years. Since the early 1980s, the proportion of overweight adults has increased by a factor of more than one and a half. In 2019, the proportion of overweight adults was lower than in most other EU countries (5th out of 26 EU countries). This is the most recent figure available. Excess weight is also an issue among children. In 2025, 12.4 percent of 4 to 18-year-olds were overweight.

Outcomes refer to the physical and mental health of the population in relation to the quality of health care. In 2025, the healthy life expectancy was 64.1 years for men and 62.0 years for women. In the European figures for life expectancy without disability, the Netherlands was in the middle of the EU ranking for men in 2023 (17th out of 26) but nearly at the bottom for women (23rd out of 26). The Netherlands was also not high in the EU rankings for suicide and neonatal mortality, two other indicators related to life expectancy, (13th out of 27 and 16th out of 21 EU countries, respectively).

In 2025, 4.5 percent of the population (aged 16 and over) faced serious limitations in their daily functioning as a result of long-term health problems. This adds up to more than 680 thousand people. This share is no longer trending downwards. People can experience problems with either physical or mental health. In a 2025 survey, 42 percent of respondents aged 12 and over reported that they had experienced feelings of anxiety or depression in the previous four weeks. This share is no longer trending upwards.

Waiting lists for specialist medical care continue to increase. In 2025, almost half (50.6 percent) of waiting times for outpatient consultations in specialist medical care exceeded the accepted norm of four weeks. That was more than 9 percentage points higher than in 2021, the first year in which waiting times were measured using this method.

Subjective assessment concerns people’s satisfaction with their own health and with the Dutch health care system. In 2025, nearly 77 percent of the Dutch population described their health as (very) good. This means that more than four million Dutch people regard their health as less than good. Until 2014, at least 80 percent of the population reported (very) good health. After that, the percentage started declining gradually. During the coronavirus pandemic (in 2020 and 2021), a remarkably high proportion of the population reported feeling positive about their health. However, since 2022, the figures have been lower again. The Netherlands ranks 4th among the 13 available countries in the EU rankings.