Noise data for the Netherlands.

Here you will find these statistics:

  • Highly annoyed in the Population in the Netherlands (% of people over 16 yrs)
  • Distribution of dwellings over noise classes in the Netherlands in 2000 for road, rail and air traffic noise
  • Comparison with Germany and UK data
  • Reports of serious sleep disturbance
  • These stats are based on surveys held in 1987, 1993,1998 and 2003 amongst 4000 inhabitants. The surveys were carried out by TNO and in 2003 by RIVM. The recent 2003 data are based on the RIVM/TNO survey published in 2004. The report (815120001 / 2004) is available from the RIVM-site, but only in Dutch language. An English summary is available here.

    Serious annoyance in the Population in the Netherlands
    (% of people over 16 yrs)


    Percentage highly annoyed in the Dutch population. Total higly annoyed is around 40%.
    source 1987 19931998 2003
    Road traffic, urban > 50 km/hr *) 12 % 8% 9% 11%
    Road traffic, highways 4% 2% 2% 2
    Mopeds 18% 15% 20% 24
    Motorcycles 14% 10% 9% 11
    Motorcars 8% 9% 6% 6
    trucks 14% 11% 9% 10
    vans 7% 6% 3% 4
    buses 5% 5% 3% 3
    military aircraft 16% 9% 7% 6
    helicopters 6% 3% 3% 3
    stereo/tv/radio neighbours 8 % 6% 10% 8
    civil aircraft 5 % 3% 4% 4
    leisure activities 5 4 4 5
    rail traffic noise 1,3% 1,4% 1% 1
    construction equipment 3% 3% 2% 3
    industry 1,8% 2,2% 1% 2
    *) Note: The general question "how much are you annoyed by road traffic" gives often a lower figure then a specific question for individual road sources like mopeds or trucks. This is a common phenomenon depending on human psychology.


    Distribution of noise levels over Lden and Lnight

    Percentage of dwellings (total 6.5 million) per noise class for Lden and Lnight in 2000. Source: RIVM. Based on calculated levels. Because of the method used (25 meter grid) the higher levels tend to be underestimated.
    Lden Lnight
    Source <49 50-54 55-59 60-64 >64 <39 40-44 45-49 50-54 >54
    Motorways 76.1 14.2 6.7 2.1 1 70.2 16.2 9.1 3.1 1.4
    Regional roads 94.3 3.1 1.5 0.8 0.3 93.8 3.4 1.6 0.8 0.3
    City roads 64.8 17.3 12.9 4.6 0.5 57.9 17.7 15.2 8 1.3
    All roads 35 34.6 21.1 7.5 1.8 21.9 37.3 25.9 11.9 3
    Railways 82.3 10 4.5 2 1.3 76.6 12.4 6.3 2.7 1.9
    Amsterdam Airport 96.7 2.8 0.4 0.1 0 98.1 1.4 0.5 0 0
    Cumulative 26.9 29.3 28 12 3.8 18.6 24.7 31.3 18.6 6.8

    Highly disturbed by noise at night

    Although night time exposure is probably a key factor in annoyance and health effects, a question for the amount of sleep disturbance was incorporated for the first time in 1998, and repeated in 2003. No comparative data for other countries are available.


    Comparison annoyance for 3 EU-countries

    This comparison of annoyance data is based on national surveys in Netherlands, Germany and the UK. The differences between the surveys are numerous, so the results are indicative at best.

    page reviewed 31-12-2004