Environmental awareness in the Netherlands, 1989-2002

The concern, willingness to make sacrifices and willingness to take action of the Dutch population seem to have stabilised in 2002 after a fall in the years before.

	1989	1994	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
	%
Concern
"Air, soil and water are already heavily polluted"	91	82	62	61	61	61	62
"If the current level of economic development continues, this will be a death sentence for nature and people"	56	39	30	33	34	34	36
"Far too much damage has already been inflicted on nature"	90	79	71	71	72	74	74
Willingness to make sacrifices
"I would be prepared to pay a little more for products to ensure clean industries"	82	80	66	70	68	70	64
"It's fine by me if the government wants to tackle water pollution but it shouldn't cost me a penny"	7	10	20	19	20	19	22
"I'm quite willing to pay higher taxes to help improve the environment"	70	56	43	46	43	45	44
Willingness to take action
"I would participate in a demonstration against ever increasing industrialisation"	13	14	9	10	9	11	10
"I'm prepared to make a case for strict reductions in motorised transport"	34	29	21	21	19	20	19
"I would join campaigns to tackle the acid rain problem"	35	32	24	25	24	26	23
Source: CBS (2003).	CBS/EDC/May03/0041
N.B. Respondents aged 18 or over.

Developments in environmental awareness

Towards the late 1990s the continuing fall in environmental awareness of the adult Dutch population seemed to stabilise somewhat. The general outlines of this trend can be seen in the three aspects of environmental awareness described in the table (concern, willingness to make sacrifices and willingness to take action).

The level of environmental awareness varies across different groups within the population. In general, slightly more women than men are concerned about the environment. Relatively higher numbers of young people, people in moderately to highly urbanised municipalities and people with a lower educational background express concern about the environment.

With respect to "willingness to make sacrifices", the level of education is the most important factor: the more highly educated the respondents, the greater their willingness to pay for the environment. Relatively more inhabitants of highly urbanised municipalities are willing to make financial sacrifices than inhabitants of smaller municipalities. Young people demonstrate most "willingness to take action" on behalf of the environment.

References

• CBS (2003). Statline. Permanent Onderzoek Leefsituatie. Statistics Netherlands, Voorburg/Heerlen.

Relevant sections and indicators in the Environmental Data Compendium

• Interest in social problems in the Netherlands, 1971-1997
• Environmentally aware behaviour in the Netherlands, 1994-2002

Relevant information outside of the Environmental Data Compendium

• More information about environmental awareness can be found on Statline (Statistics Netherlands).