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Leisure
How much leisure do the Dutch have and what do they do?
The amount and nature of people’s leisure is an indicator of their quality of life (Stiglitz et al. 2010; Verbeek & De Haan 2011; Bijl et al. 2015). People can use leisure time to relax, strengthen social ties, perform physical activity and learn new skills such as a language. Moreover, the way in which leisure time is spent, is relatively free. The amount of leisure time people have and how they experience and allocate this time is partly a matter of choice, but also depends on personal circumstances. Someone with a busy job and young children, for example, will have little time for leisure activities, while someone who is unemployed has a lot of free time but may not derive as much enjoyment from this. In this card we investigate how much time people spend in leisure activities and how they spend this time. We also investigate the possible differences between men and women and educational and age groups.
Why more leisure time is not always better
Although the term ‘leisure time’ has a positive ring to it, it is not necessarily experienced as such. Someone who is unemployed, for example, may not always know what to do with the time at their disposal. Moreover, leisure is not necessarily relaxing. Prior research suggests leisure can be intensive and busy (Gershuny 2009; Sevilla et al. 2012; Sullivan & Gershuny 2017). Research also shows that the quality of women's leisure is lower than that of men because women more often multitask leisure with care tasks and because their leisure activities are more fragmented (Bittman & Wajcman 2000; Portegijs et al. 2016).
How much leisure do we have?
We consider eight sub-categories of leisure: media and ICT (including watching television); social life (such as family visits); hobbies (such as playing music); cultural participation (such as a visit to the theatre); sports; outdoor activities and trips (including walking and cycling trips); going to bars/restaurants and parties; and simply doing nothing. Together, these activities took up 42.4 hours per week in 2016, roughly equivalent to a full-time working week. On Saturday and Sunday, people spend around 7.5 hours in leisure activities. On weekdays, this varies between five hours and fifteen minutes on an average Tuesday and six hours on an average Friday.
Media and ICT (19.6 hours per week) and social life (8.2 hours per week) are the most popular types of leisure. If we look more closely, we see that the category ‘media and ICT’ consists mainly of watching television (an average of two hours per day). Compared to women, men spend a larger part of their leisure on media, ICT and hobbies, and spend spend less time in social activities.
A closer look at media and ICT use: The ‘Media:Time study
The ‘Media: Time’ study examines media use in the Netherlands in detail. For this study, the Netherlands Institute of Social Research (SCP) collaborates with the Dutch Public Broadcasting Association (Nederlandse Publieke Omroep – NPO), the National Radio Audience Research Organisation (Nationaal Luister Onderzoek – NLO), the National Multimedia Research Organisation (Nationaal Onderzoek Multimedia – NOM), the Dutch Viewer Audience Measurement Service (Stichting Kijk Onderzoek – SKO) and the Dutch Outdoor Research Organisation (Buitenreclame Onderzoek – BRO). This time-use survey has been carried out twice (in 2013 and 2015) and will be repeated every few years. Time use is measured slightly differently in the Media: Time study than in this study. For example, people are asked to enter one main activity and up to three media and ICT activities for each time interval of 10 minutes. See the Media:Time card stack for more information about the survey and the results (in Dutch).
| 2006 | 2011 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Media and ICT | 19,9 | 21,7 | 19,6 |
| Social life | 8,7 | 7,3 | 8,2 |
| Hobbies | 2,8 | 2,1 | 2,6 |
| Sports | 1,4 | 1,7 | 1,7 |
| Outdoor activities | 1,7 | 1,8 | 1,9 |
| Resting/time out | 2,6 | 1,7 | 1,9 |
| Other leisure activities | 5,8 | 6,7 | 6,5 |
Source:SCP (TBO’06); SCP/CBS (TBO’11-’16)
There is little change in the total amount of leisure time between 2006 and 2016. Also, the gender gap does not become larger or smaller. If we look in more detail at the specific leisure activities, we see that - compared with 2016 - people in 2006 more often reported that they were resting and relaxing. A number of shifts appear to have taken place between 2006 and 2011, which were reversed in 2016. For example, the time spent on media and ICT increased between 2006 and 2011, but returned to the same level in 2016.
A possible explanation for the decrease in media and ICT-time
The surprising decrease in media and ICT use between 2011 and 2016 is mainly driven by changes in Internet and computer use. The change would have smaller if we had considered "online activities on phone" as leisure. However, this activity was categorized as social life because the telephone is often used for online communication. For more information, see Chapter 9 of ‘Social State of the Netherlands 2017’ (Sociale Staat van Nederland 2017) (Bijl et al. 2017).
Leisure time by educational level
| Leisure (total) | Resting/time out | Sports | Leisure |
|---|---|---|---|
| low educational level | 0 | 0 | 45,3 |
| intermediate educational level | 0 | 0 | 42,7 |
| high educational level | 0 | 0 | 39,9 |
| Sports and resting | Resting/time out | Sports | Leisure |
|---|---|---|---|
| low educational level | 2,9 | 1,5 | 0 |
| intermediate educational level | 1,8 | 1,7 | 0 |
| high educational level | 1,3 | 1,9 | 0 |
Source:SCP/CBS (TBO’16)
Leisure and social status
Socio-economic differences in leisure time have existed as long as this topic has been studied. But whereas a higher socio-economic status (SES) was traditionally associated with more leisure time, nowadays those with a higher SES have less leisure compared to those with a lower SES (Veblen 1899/1912; Gershuny 2009). Traditionally, the wealth and social position of the upper class meant that they spent no or very little time in paid employment. There was no need to do so. Moreover, the upper class had the money to outsource household work and the care for children. This left a lot of time for leisure. In contrast, the lower social classes had to work long days in order to earn a sufficient income. Nowadays, higher SES groups tend to work longer hours than lower SES groups. One of the drivers of this change is the rise of the knowledge economy..
Lower educated spend more activities in leisure time than higher educated
There is a clear educational difference in the time spent on leisure. Those with a lower educational level report more leisure time than those with an intermediate and higher educational level. This finding does not change if we exclude young people and those aged over 65 who have a lower education level compared with the other groups and who tend not to be employed) from the analyses. This pattern is in line with prior (international) research (Gershuny 2009; Gimenez-Nadal & Sevilla-Sanz 2011; Sevilla et al. 2012; Cloïn 2013). People with a lower educational level more often work fewer hours and are more often unemployed, which means they (can) allocate a relatively high proportion of their time to leisure activities.
To investigate whether the different educational groups organise their time differently, we zoomed in on two leisure activities: sports and resting. Sport is an example of an ‘intensive’ activity, which can be expensive and to which a certain status is attached. Resting, by contrast, is less intensive activity which is by definition not organised. The differences in sport are negligible, but when it comes to resting we find that people with low education do indeed spend more time on this activity.
Leisure by age and family status
| Men | Other leisure activities | Sports | Social life | Media and ICT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-19 years old | 18,4 | 3,3 | 8,3 | 18,6 |
| 20-64 years old, single, no children | 14,8 | 2,1 | 7,4 | 20,6 |
| 20-64 years old, coupled, no children | 11,5 | 1,7 | 7,3 | 20,7 |
| 20-64 years old, coupled with children | 9,7 | 1,7 | 6,8 | 16 |
| ≥65 years old, single | 13 | 1,4 | 8,7 | 38,1 |
| ≥65 years old, coupled | 14,8 | 1,9 | 7,7 | 31,2 |
| Women | Other leisure activities | Sports | Social life | Media and ICT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-19 years old | 14,9 | 2,9 | 9,2 | 12,9 |
| 20-64 years old, single, no children | 14 | 1,8 | 9,2 | 16,5 |
| 20-64 years old, coupled, no children | 12 | 1,4 | 8,9 | 18 |
| 20-64 years old, coupled with children | 9,9 | 1,1 | 8,3 | 13,8 |
| ≥65 years old, single | 14,7 | 1,1 | 11,2 | 27,2 |
| ≥65 years old, coupled | 14,8 | 1,2 | 8,3 | 24,2 |
Source:SCP/CBS (TBO’16)
Different ages and family status, different possibilities
In line with the findings in the other cards of this card stack, we find that the life stage in which many people have a career and dependent children is relatively busy. The data on leisure time confirm this finding: cohabiting parents spend the least time in leisure activities (just over 33 hours per week). Young people, and especially older people, have lots of leisure time. Of all the groups that were studied, men aged 65 and older (living with a partner) have most leisure time (56 hours per week).
The types of activities people participate in also varies with age and family status. Compared with the older age groups, young people spend more time doing sports and socialising. These activities are relatively active and often take place outside the home. The absence of young children and health complaints probably makes it easier to participate in these activities. Media and ICT use – the most passive form of time use in this figure – is popular for all ages and in all family types. This activity is most popular among the over-65s. The main driver is mainly because people aged over 65 spend a relatively large amount of time watching television.
References
Bijl, R., J. Boelhouwer, E. Pommer & I. Andriessen (eds.) (2015). Sociale Staat van Nederland 2015. The Hague: Netherlands Institute for Social Research (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau).
Bittman, M. & J. Wajcman (2000). The rush hour: The character of leisure time and gender equity. In: Social Forces, vol. 79, no. 1, pp. 165-189.
Cloïn, M. (ed.) (2013). Met het oog op de tijd. Een blik op de tijdsbesteding van Nederlanders. The Hague: Netherlands Institute for Social Research (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau).
Gershuny, J. (2009). Veblen in reverse: Evidence from the Multinational Time-Use Archive. In: Social Indicators Research, vol. 93, no. 1, pp. 37-45.
Gimenez-Nadal, J.I. & A. Sevilla-Sanz (2011). The time-crunch paradox. In: Social Indicators Research, vol. 102, no. 2, pp. 181-196.
Portegijs, W., M. Cloïn, R. Roodsaz & M. Olsthoorn (2016). Lekker vrij!? Vrije tijd, tijdsdruk en de relatie met de arbeidsduur van vrouwen. The Hague: Netherlands Institute for Social Research (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau).
Sevilla, A., J. I. Gimenez-Nadal & J. Gershuny (2012). Leisure inequality in the United States: 1965– 2003. In: Demography, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 939-964.
Stiglitz, J.E., A. Sen & J. Fitoussi (2010). Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. Paris: Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress.
Sullivan, O. (2007). Cultural voraciousness− A new measure of the pace of leisure in a context of harriedness’. In: Electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 30-46.
Sullivan, O. & J. Gershuny (2017). Speed-Up Society? Evidence from the UK 2000 and 2015 Time Use Diary Surveys. In: Sociology. doi: 10.1177/0038038517712914.
Sullivan, O. & T. Katz-Gerro (2007). The Omnivore thesis revisited: Voracious cultural consumers. In: European Sociological Review, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 123-137.
Veblen, T. (1899/1912). The theory of the leisure class: An economic study in the evolution of institutions. New York: Macmillan.
Verbeek, D. & J. de Haan (2011). Eropuit! Nederlanders in hun vrije tijd buitenshuis. The Hague: Netherlands Institute for Social Research (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau).
Cite this card
Roeters, A. (2017). Leisure. In: Time use in the Netherlands: Edition 1. Retrieved [datum vandaag] from https://digital.scp.nl/timeuse1/leisure.
Information notes
Voluntary work and meetings (such as committee work), religious activities (such as church attendance) and attending meetings of associations and organisations (such as a political party) are not included here, but are classed under volunteering and meetings; see the card A week at a glance.
This means watching television as a main activity. Watching television as a secondary activity (e.g. if the television is on in the background whilst the respondent is cooking) is not counted.