![]() In 2022, there were around two murders a week in the Netherlands, in a population of 17.4 million. We can dispute the actual figures, but however you calculate it, the crime rate has been falling steadily for years. At the same time, the otter and the wolf are back, and we’ve so many deer and wild boar we have to shoot them In 1952, there were 260,000 hectares of woods in the Netherlands – but that has now soared to 360,000 hectares. ![]() Today, second generation immigrants and refugee children are doing better at school, they are more likely to have jobs and they are making inroads into higher education. The Netherlands has always been home to a mixture of different peoples and religions and most people are pretty relaxed about it. Gay marriage followed in 2001, as did same sex adoption, but it took a further 13 years before it became illegal for registrars to refuse to marry gay couples. And in the most recent CBS survey this May, 83% of the population gave their lives a score of at least seven out of 10.Īlthough same sex sexually activity in the Netherlands has been legal since 1811, it was not until 1973 that homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness and 1993 before discrimination on grounds of sexuality was made illegal. Teenagers are pretty content too – although the coronavirus pandemic has had an impact. We haven’t quite worked out what they are about.ģ The Dutch are among the happiest people in the worldĭutch children are so happy, people write books about them. In the 2021 general election, for example, they won 28 out of 150 seats in parliament – or less than 20% of the vote and in the provincial elections in March 2023, no more than 18% – excluding the pro-farming BBB. Now, around 100,000 graduates join the workforce a year.ģ Most people don’t vote for the far rightĭespite the masses of television and newspaper attention for the far right parties in the Netherlands – most people don’t vote for them. ![]() In 1950, fewer than 10,000 people graduated from university or college. There is still a pay gap but it is closing, and young women in their 20s now earn between 5% and 15% more than their male colleagues.They are also more likely to go on to further education. And until 1957, married women were banned from working for the civil service. They might only work part-time but hey, it was not until 1956 that a law requiring married women to have their husband’s permission to work was actually torn up. Women were stuck at home, it was perfectly legal to discriminate against gay people, we were less well educated and even though there were far fewer cars, we were more likely to die in a traffic accident.ġ Women are working more and earning more Politicians may wax lyrical about the way the Netherlands used to be, but nostalgia for the 1950s is largely misplaced. But not everything is gloom and doom, as the next lesson in our inburgering course points out. Inflation is high, we have a climate, a housing and a nitrogen crisis and public confidence in the government has shrunk to an all-time low. Inburgering with Dutch News: 12 reasons why life is better today JPhoto:
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