Something has quietly been eroding in the Netherlands — and a fresh set of figures has finally put a number on it. Public confidence in national politicians and parliament has fallen to its lowest point since records began in 2012, according to a large-scale social survey. Only one in five Dutch people aged 15 and over said they trusted politicians last year, while just one in four expressed confidence in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of parliament. Around 7,600 people took part in the survey, which has been tracking social attitudes annually since 2012.
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A Decade of Rise, Then a Steady Fall
It was not always this bleak. Through most of the last decade, trust was actually climbing. By 2020, nearly 40 percent of Dutch people had confidence in their politicians, and more than half viewed parliament favourably — figures that reflected a relatively healthy relationship between the public and its institutions.
Then came the coronavirus pandemic, and something shifted. Confidence began slipping year after year. By 2025, only 21.
2 percent trusted politicians in The Hague, and parliament's approval had fallen to just 24.6 percent. There was a brief pause in that decline in 2024, but it did not last.
That said, some perspective is worth keeping in mind. Despite the sharp drop, Dutch confidence in politicians and parliament still sits relatively high compared to most other European countries — a sign that the erosion, while real, has not yet reached the depths seen elsewhere on the continent.
Who Trusts Whom, and Where
The generational divide in these numbers is genuinely interesting.
Young people between 15 and 25 are actually the most trusting of political institutions, while those aged 65 to 75 are the most sceptical. CBS sociologist Tanja Traag has a straightforward explanation for this. Younger people have not yet accumulated enough political experience to form firm judgments, so they tend to give institutions the benefit of the doubt.
Old.
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