A Day with the Dutch Time Use in the Netherlands Compared with 15 Other European Countries

How do people in the Netherlands use their time, and are there any differences when compared with other countries? This study of time use in daily life makes it possible to compare Dutch time use with time use in other countries based on a harmonised European Time Use Survey design. Besides the Netherlands, this study incorporates time use data for Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Slovenia, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, and Italy.

The study provides a snapshot of an average day in the life of persons aged 20 to 74 years. The activities covered are personal care (sleeping, eating), obligations (study, paid work, household tasks, and child care), free time, and travel time. The study devotes particular attention to gender differences in time use as well. It also offers an overall picture of associations in time use between the countries studied.