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 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.
Read publicationCompared with a few years ago, the situation in which young people with a non-western foreign background in the Netherlands find themselves has improved in a number of areas. They are better educated and more of them have jobs. In spite of this, they still have some catching up to do with respect to native Dutch young people.
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