Netherlands: Preventive Healthcare - World Health Systems Facts

Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births), 2023: 4
Under-five mortality rate (per 1000 live births), 2023: 4.0
Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000 live births), 2023: 2.6
Tuberculosis incidence (per 100,000 population), 2023: 4.5
Probability of dying from any of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease between age 30 and exact age 70 (%), 2021: 9.9%
Suicide mortality rate (per 100,000 population), 2021: 11.5
Adolescent birth rate (per 1000 women aged 15-19 years), 2015-2024: 2.2
Adolescent birth rate (per 1000 women aged 10-14 years), 2015-2024: 0
Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) immunization coverage among 1-year-olds (%), 2023: 92%
Measles-containing-vaccine second-dose (MCV2) immunization coverage by the locally recommended age (%), 2023: 81%
Pneumococcal conjugate 3rd dose (PCV3) immunization coverage among 1-year olds (%), 2023: 88%
Human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization coverage estimates among 15 year-old girls (%), 2023: 60%
Prevalence of stunting in children under 5 (%), 2024: 1.6%
Prevalence of overweight in children under 5 (%), 2024: 5.4%
Prevalence of anaemia in women aged 15-49 years (%), 2023: 16.5%

Source: World health statistics 2025: monitoring health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. Tables of health statistics by country and area, WHO region and globally. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

Infant mortality, deaths per 1,000 live births, 2021: 3.3
Maternal mortality rate, deaths per 100,000 live births, 2020: 4.3
Congestive heart failure hospital admission in adults, age-sex standardized rate per 100,000 population, 2021: 148
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease hospital admissions in adults, age-sex standardized rate per 100,000 population, 2021: 125

Source: OECD (2023), Health at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/7a7afb35-en.

“Mortality rates from causes deemed preventable and treatable in the Netherlands were 21 % and 36 % lower than the EU averages in 2020. Over the last decade, treatable mortality rates declined much faster than the EU average, driven by mortality reductions from ischaemic heart disease and breast cancer.”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2023), The Netherlands: Country Health Profile 2023, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the share of the Netherlands’ health budget dedicated to prevention increased from 3.3 % in 2019 to 4.7 % in 2020. In 2021, expenditure on prevention more than doubled, reaching 8.7 % of total health spending – a share above the EU average of 6 %. This increase was attributable to expenditure on COVID-19testing, tracing and vaccines, which collectively accounted for more than two thirds of spending on preventive care in 2021.”

“In 2020, the mortality rates from causes deemed to be preventable and treatable in the Netherlands were 21 % and 36 % lower than their respective EU averages (Figure 13). Against the backdrop of a nearly 17 % surge in the EU’s preventable mortality rate in 2020, the Netherlands saw its rate increase by 14.5 %, reflecting slightly lower COVID-19 mortality among its population under 75 years of age compared to most other EU countries. The primary single causes of preventable mortality in the Netherlands were lung cancer and COVID-19, accounting for 40 % of all preventable deaths in 2020.

“In 2020, the Netherlands had the lowest mortality rate from treatable causes in the EU. This accomplishment can be attributed to a significantly more rapid decline over the past decade compared to the EU average, largely driven by mortality reductions from ischaemic heart disease and breast cancer. Together with colorectal cancer, these conditions were the leading causes of death that could be mitigated through timely healthcare interventions, accounting for approximately half of all deaths from treatable conditions in the Netherlands.”

“As in other EU countries, Dutch health authorities have long advised older people to get the influenza vaccine, which is available free of charge fromGPs for several at-risk groups, including people aged 60 and older. Throughout the last decade,the Netherlands consistently maintained a flu vaccination coverage rate among this target group that exceeded the EU average. However, its coverage rate declined significantly from a high ofover 80 % in 2010 to a low of 60 % in 2018 among people of 65 years and older. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to reigniting interest in receiving the flu vaccine among people at higher risk of complications and hospitalisation: in 2021, the flu vaccination coverage rate for people aged 65 and above surged to nearly 73 %, marking an increase of over 12 percentage points from 2019 (Figure 14).

“In recent years, the Netherlands has also undertaken various initiatives to boost human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake among adolescent girls, resulting in an increase from 52 % in 2019 to 66 % in 2022. This figure, however, falls short of meeting the WHO target for cervical cancer eradication, which foresees achieving 90 % HPV vaccination coverage among 15-year-old girls. In 2023, the Netherlands launched a large-scale catch-up HPV vaccination campaign for people up to 18 years old. Additionally, starting in 2022 the eligibility for free HPV vaccination was extended to include adolescent boys.”

Netherlands: Preventive Healthcare - National Policies - World Health Systems Facts

World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems and policies in the US and sixteen other OECD member nations.

Page last updated August 2, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.