Dutch Statistics & Life Rating

     People ask Lewis and I why we wanted to live in the Netherlands.  Would you like to know the reasons?  Here there are...

     We learned that Dutch citizens are some of Europe’s most efficient workers, but they do not live to work.  (Nobody is put on Earth for that).  Visit a Dutch office at 5pm, and nearly every desk will be empty.  While the Dutch are hard workers, they prefer to do their jobs within their official 38-hour work week.  According to the OECD Better Life Index, 0.4% of employees work very long hours—which is the lowest rate.  Staying extra hours is discouraged.  (Compare that to Americans you know who stay late at the office, bring work home, or work a sixth day of the week).  Unlike America, coming to work when sick is considered very bad manners, so businesses encourage employees to stay home and recuperate more quickly.  The Dutch devote more of their average day to personal care, nutrition, sleep, exercise, and leisure.  

     The Netherlands has some of the world’s highest productivity rates.  Happy and healthy people work effectively, as opposed to scared/oppressed people.  Every full-time employee is legally entitled to at least five weeks of paid vacation per year.  (America only offers 2 weeks; it is one of the lowest in the entire world).  Employers give a "holiday bonus" to cover employee's expenses for vacations. 

     Life-Work balance is important in the Netherlands.  People take pride in their work but do not feel the need to demonstrate their dedication by working long hours.  The Netherlands achieved the highest rating for Life-Work Balance.  Even better, disposable income nearly equals the United States and the United Kingdom.

     According to the OECD, the Netherlands is one of the best places to work.  Average wages are only exceeded by Denmark, the U.S.A., Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Iceland.   (Yet, the U.S.A. has the worst infrastructure, public safety, and healthcare, and the highest cost of living).  Unemployment is the lowest, aside from Luxembourg and Iceland.  Net pension wealth is also in the top quarter.

     Since the Dutch government invests wisely, its spending ratio is only in the middle of the global spectrum.  Due to America's "for profit" healthcare system, Americans' healthcare spending is twice as high.  The Dutch pharmaceutical spending is practically the lowest in the world.  Hospital stays are the fourth-lowest in the world.  

     When a new baby arrives, the woman giving birth receives 16 weeks of paid maternity leave.  (For comparison, Denmark—the recently-labeled "#1 Place To Live"—gives 14 paid weeks.  (America allows 12 weeks, but it is of UNPAID maternity leave!  Only two other countries do not pay maternity leave: the Marshall Islands and Papau New Guinea).  The other Dutch parent (man or woman) is entitled to 6 weeks of paid paternity leave.  Thus, a Dutch child is brought into the world supportively.  The Dutch enjoy high levels of life satisfaction in childhood: over 93% for ages 11-15.  

     Transparency International has an annual ranking of “Perceived Corruption Index”; the Netherlands ranked as eighth "least corrupt" in the world.  It is among the world’s most prosperous nations (7th largest global investor), while giving its citizens free education, free healthcare, solidly modern infrastructure, eco-friendly industries, renewable energy power supplies, and technological discoveries.  The notion of "giving back" is contagious, and the Dutch involve themselves in a higher level of volunteerism, as compared to the rest of the world: sports, community associations, gardening, mentoring, et cetera. 

     The Dutch government has the wherewithal to provide funding for primary, secondary, vocational, and higher-education.  Ergo, graduates do not begin their lives with $100,000+ debt, as in America.  Only private schools have tuition fees.  The Netherlands outclasses most of the world in mathematics, surpassed by Korea and Japan.  Their science education is within the top quarter of nations.  The Netherlands has 55 universities, art & performance institutions, and research colleges.  There are 8 private-paid medical schools.  That is very impressive for a country with 17 million people!  (New York City has 8.5 million... and some of the country's worst exam grades).

     Of course, not all education is for professional reasons.  Many adults in Dutch communities take classes for cooking, painting, foreign languages, music, or dance... just for fun.  A lot of these classes are publicly funded or offered for a minimal fee.  Per the OECD, the Dutch earned first prize for Lifelong Learning.  

     A dozen government officials and parliamentarians are in same-sex relationships, as well as one of the King's 12 appointed Province Commissioners.  They openly bring their partners to events.  Homosexuality was only decriminalized in America (supposedly the Land of the Free) in 2003.  Way ahead of that, Denmark legalized it in 1933, and the Netherlands did it in 1811!  Dutch society was the first the legalize same-sex marriage, in April 2001.  LGBT rights in the Netherlands are some of the most progressive in the world.

     If you need to pay your taxes, report a bicycle theft, or make an appointment with the public health service in the Netherlands, you can do it from your computer or cellphone app.  Almost every agency and public official can be reached online, and each citizen has a specific digital signature to “sign” important documents.  That is so much easier than in America—especially NYC.  The Dutch government made a commitment to go “digital by default”, with paper used only as a last resort.  The high level of their broadband penetration makes digital-only services practical and accessible.  Cash is used much less in the Netherlands: only 40% of yearly transactions.  Businesses generally buy and sell from each other using online transfers, and people pay for things using mobile phones and payment cards.  Half of "card payments" are "tap and go"—keeping things quick and efficient: the Dutch way!  Banks offer special payment cards for children as young as 8 years-old.  Just like riding a bicycle, members of society start learning at a young age.

     Tax deductions from paychecks are similar in amount to America, yet the Netherlands gives back tremendously higher benefits for them.  A friend who lives in Amsterdam told me that 44% of his salary (after deductions) is paid in taxes.  I pay the same for living/working in NYC, but NYC is a crumbling corrupt city.  In contrast, my friend received free education, affordable/excellent healthcare, and supreme government services.  

     The Netherlands has exceptional standards of healthcare, which is not only accessible but affordable.  It won first place of 35 countries in the 2017 Euro Health Consumer Index.  It's the only country to hold the top-three positions consistently since 2005.  Cumulatively, the Dutch citizens spend 10% of GDP on healthcare.  While that's the 8th-highest in Europe, it is better than America, which spends the most on healthcare in the entire world.  For Dutch employees, their monthly deduction is 100 Euros ($109).  Mine is $160 per month (others pay $200+) for BASIC coverage!  Dutch insurance offers free medical treatment, including standard prescriptions where the pharmacist must legally offer generic brands first.  Unlike in America, a doctor/pharmacist cannot promote a specific brand (for their personal gains).  Dental treatment requires a private insurance policy, which covers most costs for check-ups, cleanings, and approved oral surgery.  Dental prices are standardized by the government, so that demonstrates your tax dollars helping you.  €21 for a check-up.  €30 for an X-ray.  Compare that to American prices!  Dutch healthcare is among the best in Europe, which is a role-model for the rest of the world.  It is managed by the government and aided by insurance companies.  It won a rating of #2 in the 2018 Euro Health Consumer Index, topped only by Switzerland.  

     Keep in mind that the average gross Dutch salary is $37,000.  

     One of the best aspects of the Netherlands is its outstanding infrastructure.  Unlike uber-wealthy America that neglects such things, it is one of Europe's wealthiest nations and invests heavily in citizens' wellbeing.  It is the fifth-most-prosperous nation.  Its 100% digital telecommunications network ranks among the world's best for quality, speed, and reliability.  They are a huge exporter of electronics.  Their huge agricultural sector grows crops under see-through solar panels, so more of the nation can live on solar power.  On the topic of efficiency, the global average uses 214 liters of water to grow 1kg of tomatoes; the Dutch only use 4 liters.

     By 2050, the economy aims to run on reusable raw materials.  By 2030, Amsterdam intends to generate 80% of its power from wind and solar energy.  By 2050, the kingdom wants to eliminate CO2 emissions by half and generate 40% of its electricity from sustainable sources.  It has 2,525 onshore wind turbines, with offshore wind turbines farms under construction.  (Meanwhile, the American president falsely claims that coal is clean, and wind turbines are harmful to the environment).  Speaking about energy, the Netherlands has the 5th-lowest energy prices.  It also has the most density for charging stations for electric vehicles.

     The Netherlands ranked first in KPMG's Autonomous Vehicles Index of 2018, thanks to its plethora of electric cars, digital connectivity, telecommunications networks, and e-vehicle charging stations.  Amsterdam won fifth place on Frost & Sullivan's Smart Mobility City Tracker.  After London, it was the highest-ranked European city.  Amsterdam also won fourth place of 168 European cities for the Innovation Cities Index by 2thinknow.  

     The nation's reliable airports and seaports are some of the most efficient on the planet... and they are 4-meters below sea level!  Unlike how NYC failed miserably during Hurricane Sandy, the Netherlands is awesomely protected against flooding.  It is one of Europe's main entry points for shipping.  After China and America, it is the world's fifth-biggest exporter (yet consider its size!).  Bigger is NOT always better.

     Rotterdam is the world's largest port.  Amsterdam is busily right behind it.

     Amsterdam's airport is the 4th-busiest in Europe.  Unlike America—especially NYC—the airports are smoothly connected to cities by railways.  Modern railroads, high-speed trains, and high-quality roads create smooth-flowing transportation.  Thanks to its biking culture and educated drivers, road accidents are some of the scarcest in the world.  The Dutch own more bicycles per capita than anywhere in the world, and they cycle more often and longer distances... which equates to good health.  

     The nation's constitutional capital, Amsterdam, moved up one position to #11 on the 2019 Mercer Quality of Living Ranking.  

     The United Nation's World Happiness Report rated the Netherlands as #5 out of 156 nations!  

     Here is how the Netherlands ranked in IMD’s World Competitiveness Scoreboard for 2019: 6 out of 125!  After Switzerland, it's the top spot in Europe.  Its strengths include, Management of Cities, International Experience, Immigration Laws, and Foreign Highly-Skilled Personnel.  It was #1 for Credit Rating.  

     According to the Environmental Performance Index, out of 180 nations, the Netherlands achieved #14 for water and sanitation.  Worldwide, the Dutch separation of waste is the most effective, and they continue to find recycling innovations.  

     CityMetric.com proclaimed that Amsterdam had the best transportation system.  They cited its easy-to-read/all-inclusive map.  Its Metro is becoming automated.  Like Copenhagen, the city built an entirely new Metro line (while being under sea level AND beneath the city's most historic district).  Despite NY's ever-growing population, Unlike Copenhagen and Manhattan, it kept its trams and steadily improved the tramways.  Clearly unlike NYC, every station is handicap-accessible.  Public transport is included in visitor-friendly Amsterdam Cards, which give free museum passes.  The system is amazingly quiet and clean; it doesn't intrude on the cityscape.  

     In 2019, Amsterdam won best rating for Commuting / Commuter Wellbeing, from the global financier, Moneybarn.  In 2019, it was ranked as Europe's safest city and the world's fourth-safest city, by the Economist's Safe Cities Index, using 57 criteria for 60 cities.

     On a moral note, the Netherlands refuses to be a haven for people convicted of crimes against humanity.  It combats corruption, confiscates criminal assets, and fights illicit gun imports.  It has an impressively low "violent crime" rate.  Compare that to how global embassies warn travelers that America is unsafe due to prolific gun violence, terrorism, and theft rates in 2019.  Add to that NYC's typical four infrastructure disasters per year: exploding underground gas pipes, ruptured water mains (they are all 100-years-old), power plant explosions, power plant malfunctions, and underground fires.  It is 2020, yet NYC's corrupt/unreliable MTA transit system is still claiming to need more to time to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012!

     The Netherlands won the top position for the 2018 Good Country Index, exceeding 35 indicators.  According to the World Bank, the Dutch government is one of the most effective in world, with a high-quality of civil service and a lack of political pressures.  Credibility is also high.  It is no surprise that it was valued as one of the least corrupt countries by the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index = #8 out of 180.

     On a related topic, the Netherlands is one of only six countries that met the United Nations’ goal for rich countries providing a minimum of 0.7 gross national income for “development assistance” of poor countries.  Only five others meet that UN goal: the United Kingdom, the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. 

     Despite all of this evidence and data, swarms of people choose to immigrate to America.  They gullibly believe America's global advertising... whereas I do my research.  

Lewis and I were born here, but we prefer to take the smarter path and live elsewhere (now that we can).  We will relocate to the most-suitable place.

Unchanged

     Manhattan and its boroughs were believed to soar upward in innovation, prestige, and development.  Sadly--because it historically remained in a chokehold of greedy land owners and financiers--its prices rise, cheapness is rampant, its overdevelopment soars, but its infrastructure and "sense of community" deteriorates.  

     Imagine a city that is on land owned by a small clique of psychotically greedy people.  They own the land, and structures on it pay outrageous rents to them.  Every year, if they uncaring raise the rent, they force the city to constantly find ways of squeezing more money from itself.  That would result in ever-taller buildings with ever-higher rents for always-smaller spaces (to make more money from the same plot of land).  The city would replace its commercial docks to build more skyscrapers to gain more rent.  The city would use falsities in global advertising campaigns to lure an endless stream of tourists, renters, and gullible investors.  Regardless of severity, nothing would stand in the way of year-round tourism.  Infrastructure would be outrightly neglected, yet needed to funnel more people into the "hungry city".  Threats to business owners could wring money from them.  Public education would slacken and suffer, while the city's best universities would fail to produce anyone to fix the issues.  There would be pay cuts to employees, cheapened levels of service, slumlords, overcrowded/sublet apartments, tenements, human trafficking for cheap labor, immigration for cheap labor, surges in drug dealing, losses of bonuses/perks, cutbacks by corporate entities, overworked employees, higher prices, additional surcharges, and deterioration.  Does that describe New York City?

     You should grade a city by how it evolves.  Does it change? Does it improve itself?  Does it fix longstanding problems?  Does it thwart the growth of new problems?  Does it apply resources to improve its populous?  Does it provide a haven for a healthy community of residents?  New York City fails.  

     That "modern" city was built on avarice.  It was uncaringly thrown together--often without regard for infrastructure.  If you look at today's high-rises, that continues unbridled.  

Blindly following the Big Three Automakers since the 1920s only led to more congested roads.  Despite a century, NYC's traffic got worse, while other cities around the world got better.  Clearly, NYC government does not care... even as it constricts the suburbs, bridges, and outer boroughs.

Nobody dared to fix the social problems that were consequences of maniacal industries--pumping out things that nobody needed.  (Why does a household of 4 need 5 cars?)

 

Have things improved in 100 years?  Take a look...

Look at the unsightly water tanks that remain on NYC rooftops.  What other first-world metropolis has that?



Even worse, NYC doesn't care to maintain them.

https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/policy/energy-environment/new-york-city-water-tank-hazards.html


Such overpaid neglect created annual infestations of Legionnaire's Disease, something that only third-world countries might have.  Clearly, NYC's high taxes don't provide honest health inspectors.

https://www.amny.com/news/legionnaires-disease-nyc-1-18255577/

     To feed its ever-fattening greed, NYC gobbled up five boroughs to claim more revenue, but it rarely gives back to those neighborhoods.  The city was a fungus, mushrooming more skyscrapers while draining the treasury.  Many of the neighborhoods still suffer, exactly as they did one hundred years ago.

     Everyone is plugged in, paying ever-higher taxes, utility bills, rents, commuter costs, and insurance premiums.  Few get better lives, nor can they afford to retire in the city they paid for.

     When it was "built up", NYC was meant to funnel consumerism... not create excellent public schools, or efficient traffic pattern, or "green spaces".  

     It was meant to be a place of two extremes: towers and tenements.  That is oftentimes still the case, even in 2020.  Just looking at it, you can tell that it was clearly made by conglomerates who only wanted to impress themselves... and cared little for humanity.  

That is still its top-tier focus, while schools, parks, shelters, wages, and subways are neglected for decades.

Check out this link:

https://gothamist.com/news/how-your-tax-dollars-are-wasted-to-build-luxury-apartments

If you notice scenes from the film "Gangs of New York", you will realize that the same unchanged politics and pettiness block progress today.  Some things never change.

Look at these comparative photographs to see how so many things remained unchanged.

Unlike other cities that dug new subway / Metro routes, NYC didn't... despite its much larger income and much larger population.  That's not surprising considering that NYC railways were corrupt at their inception.  Nothing changed.



Money only pours in for real estate development, because NYC is a glutton for money and needs to keep feeding itself with rent-payers/taxpayers.  

Stupidly, NYC does not upgrade its electricity, sewage, public transportation, roadways, school roofs, libraries, sanitation, or infrastructure.  Instead, the revenue hemorrhages into historical "pockets".  That has a "trickle down" effect.

(After 60 years, build a chess table!)



(After 100 years, the MTA should make the subway better)

Look at the MTA Board of Directors that remain.






Of course, the overbearing heat (from overpopulation, carbon gases, antiquated underground steam-heating systems, and antiquated electricity power-plants) and windy gusts (from never-ending skyscraper canyons) continues.

Sadly, New York City remains a cesspool, yet it hungrily applies money to a global advertising campaign to lure tourists and residents.  Like a swindling circus, it lures people in with bright lights, actor spokespeople (in movies and TV), and loud-talking promoters.  











The city remains a place of "dreams", but for millions of occupants, it deliberately fails to allow their aspirations to become reality.













Then, it fleeces them of their money... and discards them.  



If you complain, dislike your job, dislike your under-served / overpriced home, dislike the bad customer service, or disdain the lack of cleanliness, then people often don't care to fix it.  Their attitude about your life is that you should merely "do as you're told".  They're confident that "if you don't want it, someone else will".

The reason for that is because people remain uneducated, some actually enjoy their situation, and many are distracted by the "bright lights" that lure them from rationality.

     Thus, over a century of gluttony and neglect from tax-paid leaders created a failing dynasty (the type that Amazon cancelled on, when it decided to build its headquarters in another city).  Still, those city leaders disguise NYC's rot with various ruses, while the brain-dead patient is kept alive by a life-support system of bureaucracy.  During elections, candidates cloak themselves in borrowed virtues and claim to be saviors... but repeatedly fall to corruption.  Through dozens of generations, one bad group was replaced with another.  NYC's political arena seems hereditarily corrupt.  Those who criticize on a big scale are ruthlessly purged (research those who defied plans to bulldoze neighborhoods, demolish historic masterpieces, or stop police corruption... and see what happened to them).  Thus, nobody conspicuously strives for improvements.  The influential and wealthy spend their time like idle playboys.  Their education is restricted to effete themes and vicious money-making schemes.  Nobody has practical training for the management of a culture.  

However, a few people do benefit from this situation.

Why would you want to keep paying the highest prices for a filthy, unstable city with the worst infrastructure, no goals (except for real estate overdevelopment), and unending logistical problems?