Health

The elderly in general feel less healthy than other adults and young people. So it is logical to assume that Dutch people will on average feel less healthy in the future as a result of the ageing of the population. However, the Trend Scenario does not confirm this assumption; although our population is getting older, we will feel just as healthy in the future.

In both 2015 and 2040, almost 80 percent of the population will feel healthy. Yet, the percentage of women who feel healthy in the future will decrease slightly from 77.1 percent in 2015 to 76.4 percent in 2040.

In general, activity limitations related to vision, hearing and mobility occur more often in elderly than in younger people. Because of the ageing of the population, it is to be expected that the percentage of Dutch people with activity limitations will increase in the future. However, the Trend Scenario shows that in 2015 and 2040 an equal proportion of the Dutch population above 16 years will not experience any activity limitations regarding vision, hearing or mobility. This is true for both men and women. The percentage of women without activity limitations will also be smaller in the future than the percentage of men. The vast majority of Dutch people (over 86 percent) did not experience any activity limitations in 2015 and will not do so in 2040.

The Trend Scenario shows that the number of lonely Dutch people aged 19 years and over will increase in the future. In the future, the number of lonely people who live alone will increase more than the number of lonely people who cohabit. This applies to both moderately lonely and seriously lonely people. In total, the number of lonely people will increase from 5.2 million in 2015 to almost 5.9 million in 2040 (41 percent of adults). This is an increase of 700,000 lonely people. Most of these people feel moderately lonely, but serious loneliness will also be more common in the future. The number of seriously lonely people as a percentage of all lonely people will hardly change between 2015 and 2040. Reasons for the future increase in the number of lonely people are the ageing of the population and rising numbers of single-person households (loneliness occurs more among people who live alone than among people who cohabit). Although loneliness is a problem for all ages, it tends to increase with age.

Between 2007 and 2015, the percentage of employees who report burn-out complaints rose slightly. This is shown by the TNO’s Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NEA). The number of notifications of emotional exhaustion and burn-out by company doctors rose dramatically between 2012 and 2015. These notifications were registered with the Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases.

In general, most of the population aged 12 years and older experience no mental distress. This is evidenced by data from the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5), a 5-item questionnaire about how people felt over the last four weeks. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has been using this questionnaire since 2001. The MHI provides a more general and broader picture of mental health than just burn-out complaints. The historic trend in mental distress based on the MHI-5 in the past does not provide a clear picture. Although burn-out complaints among employees appear to be on the increase, the future development of mental complaints in the general population is unclear.

The Trend Scenario shows that in the future increasing numbers of people will experience insufficient control over their own lives. This increase applies to both men and women, with women showing a higher increase than men. Between 2015 and 2040 the number of people who experience insufficient control will increase from 1.3 million to 1.6 million. This will be mainly attributable to the ageing of the population. In general elderly people experience less control over their lives than young people (not shown in graph). On average, men experience slightly more control than women.