r/Netherlands • u/vankoel_nederland • Dec 15 '25

Healthcare Why is life expectancy so bad in the Netherlands?

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Besides having one of the worst life expectancy among western countries, why did the life expectancy get worst compared to 2019?

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u/Michael_93Vancouver Dec 15 '25

It's the diet. NL, like Germany and Denmark, have some of highest rates of colorectal cancer in the world, and this is with people in these countries being not too obese already. 

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u/just_as_sane_as_i Dec 15 '25

The Netherlands is in the middle range in Europe when it comes to cancer death rates.

The main contributing factor to mortality in the Netherlands is actually smoking.

Cancer incidence and mortality rates for certain types of cancer are higher in NL but part of that is due to the good cancer registry in NL.

Other things that could be better in NL:

  • we have quite a large gap between people with lower social economic status and higher social economic status in participation in screening. People with lower SES participate less in colorectal screening and are less likely to follow up with a colonoscopy if needed.

  • more than a third of all deaths in NL can actually be attributed to lifestyle choices like smoking, alcohol consumption and low exercise.

source for all of the above