With a pandemic ongoing, the year 2020 reshaped the lives of young people in the Netherlands. In secondary education, relatively more students were promoted and almost all final examination students graduated. Fewer young people were at work; fewer girls between the ages of 12 and 18 used alcohol on occasion, and there was less excessive drinking among young men. The number of young people receiving youth care declined; on the other hand, the number of reported child abuse cases went up. Furthermore, compared to the previous year, in 2020 a smaller share of young people reported they were happy and satisfied with life. These are some of the results Statistics Netherlands (CBS) describes in the Annual Report of the National Youth Monitor 2021, published today.
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Do young people in the Caribbean Netherlands ever encounter bullying? What do they do in their free time? What are their future plans after graduation? This and more is presented in the Caribbean Netherlands Student Survey, held for the first time at the end of 2020. The survey forms part of the National Youth Monitor, compiled by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) in collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS).
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The upward trend in youth labour participation which started in 2016 came to an abrupt end last year as the coronavirus crisis set in. In Q2 2020, the youth labour participation rate fell from 65.9 to 60.3 percent, returning to the level of Q1 2016. Labour participation rose again in the third and fourth quarters, to 62.7 percent. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this in the CBS Youth Monitor.
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Young people aged 15 to 17 years in the Netherlands say they have little interest in politics. Once they are entitled to vote when they turn 18, they do start to find politics more interesting. At the same time, young people place a great deal of faith in politicians, more so than the older generations.
Read publicationFewer young, highly educated people have completed technical studies compared to ten years ago. Among these engineering graduates, the number of men is four times as high as the number of women. According to Statistics Netherlands, nearly 30 percent of female and almost half of male engineering graduates start working in technical occupations.
Read publicationBetween 2010 and 2014, over 14 percent of young Dutch between the ages of 12 and 20 were smoking. This percentage is particularly high in the north of the Netherlands. The share of young people smoking is highest in the province of Drenthe (19 percent), followed by the province of Groningen and the northern Netherlands region, each with 18 percent. The lowest share of smokers aged 12 to 20 is found in the middle region of the country. The municipal health care regions of Amsterdam, Utrecht and the Gooi- en Vecht area report a percentage share of 11 percent young smokers.
Read publicationNearly half of the 15-year-olds in the Netherlands are attending a form of pre-vocationalsecondary education (vmbo) in the academic year 2014/’15. The share is particularly large in the provinces of Groningen and Friesland. The number of vmbo students provides an indication of the educational level of young people in a municipality.
Read publicationA growing part of 18-24 year-olds embark on a study in higher vocational education (hbo) or university (wo). Women and young people with a non-western background are the main contributors to the increase. The proportion of students in general secondary vocational education (mbo) has remained stable in recent years.
Read publicationSlightly fewer than half of all people aged between 12 and 25 responded in 2009 that they had a religious denomination. This share has fallen by 6 percent points since 1997. Church attendance is low among young people. About one in seven goes to church or to a religious gathering at least once a month.
Read publicationRelative to other European countries, many young people in the Netherlands attend some form of education. The number of young people leaving school without a basic qualification is also below the European Union (EU) average.
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