Well-being ‘here and now’: safety
Crime and perceived safety – or the lack of it – have a direct impact on citizens’ quality of life. Both the actual risk of being a victim of crime and perceived safety are relevant.
- A relatively small but growing number of people feel unsafe in their neighbourhood.
- The proportion of the population who trust the police is high compared with other EU countries but is no longer growing.
- The quality of Dutch public institutions remains high compared with other EU countries.
Safety
in EU
in 2023
| Theme | Indicator | Value | Trend | Position in EU | Position in EU ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Safety | Often feeling unsafe in the neighbourhood | 2.5% of the population over 15 often feels unsafe in 2025 | increasing (decrease well-being) | ||
| Safety | Victims of crime | 20.0% of the population over 15 are crime victims in 2025 | 13th out of 19 in 2023 | Middle ranking |
Colour codes and notes to the dashboards in the Monitor of Well-being
In 2025, 2.5 percent of people in the Netherlands often felt unsafe in their own neighbourhood. This group represents a relatively small but growing proportion of the population. Overall, more people sometimes feel unsafe. In 2025, this was true of 37.2 percent of the population, up from 33 percent in 2019. Young women are more than twice as likely to feel unsafe as young men. In 2025, one in five people aged 15 and over said they had been victims of ‘traditional’ forms of crime, including violence, burglary, theft and vandalism. In addition, 16.8 percent of people aged 15 and over indicated that they had been victims of online crime.
An increasing percentage of all suspects were minors in 2025. This share was already high compared to other EU countries in 2023 (SDG 16.1). Mortality from murder or manslaughter, on the other hand, is lower in the Netherlands than in most other EU-27 countries.
The number of police officers per 100 thousand people is trending downwards, indicating a decline in the resources and capabilities required to maintain security. Police operational strength actually increased by 0.7 percent between 2023 and 2024 (the most recent years for which data is available). While trust in the police was relatively high in 2023 compared to the EU (2nd out of 19 member states), it stopped increasing in 2025. Trust in the judiciary is also relatively high (2nd out of 19 member states in 2023) and continued to trend upwards in 2025 (SDG 16.2). The score for the ‘rule of law’ indicator is trending downwards. Even so, the legal system in the Netherlands functions relatively well compared to other EU countries. Within Europe, only Finland, Denmark, Luxembourg and Sweden have higher scores.