Young adults are becoming increasingly politically active in the Netherlands

According to the National Youth Monitor 2024 annual report of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), more and more young people in the Netherlands are actively participating in political actions such as demonstrations or petitions.

Between 2020 and 2023, an average of 44 percent of young people aged 18-25 stated that they participated in one or more political actions in the last five years. This is more than in 2012-2019, when the figure was 38 percent. They were particularly likely to participate in unconventional political campaigns, such as protest marches and petitions.

Young people over the age of 25 were also slightly more likely to participate in political campaigns from 2020 to 2023 than before. As with young adults, participation in unconventional actions has also increased among young people over the age of 25, while participation in traditional actions has decreased slightly. Young adults, at 41 percent, participated in unconventional activities much more frequently than those aged 25 and over (32 percent). The difference was greatest at protest marches and demonstrations, where young adults attended twice as often as adults 25 and older. However, participation in an action group was equally common for both age groups.

CBS figures also show that young university graduates in particular are participating in political action in the Netherlands. For example, in the last two years, young adults with a university or university of applied sciences degree were significantly more likely to engage in traditional and unconventional actions than their peers with primary, secondary or MBO education.

The gap is largest for unconventional protests: 28 percent of young adults with primary, secondary or MBO education participated in protests, compared with 52 percent of those with HBO or WO education. Young women were also more likely to participate in political action than young men.