In 2023, around 300,000 people in the Netherlands received ADHD medication. This is evident from figures published on Monday from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). The number of people to whom ADHD medication has been provided has quadrupled compared to 2006. That was the first year that Statistics Netherlands published figures on this.
It is striking that the ADHD resources are increasingly being provided to people over 25. In 2023 this number was 50 percent, at the start of the measurement, in 2006, that was still 30 percent.
The number of men and women who receive the medication varies greatly: in 2023 it was 170,000 men and 130,000 women. However, the increase in women is stronger: since 2006, almost six times as much ADHD medication has been provided to women. For men it was more than two and a half times as much. As a result, the differences between men and women in the use of medication have become smaller.
In children, the difference in use between boys and girls is also great. 7.3 percent of boys between 10 and 15 years old received ADHD medication, compared to 3 percent of girls.
Origin makes a difference
There is also a difference between Dutch people with and without a migration background. For example, 2.5 percent of the Dutch people whose parents and themselves were born in the Netherlands get ADHD medication. That is one and a half times as much as the Dutch of whose one or both parents were born abroad.
At the beginning of this century, the number of users of ADHD medication already exploded: among children and young people quadrupled the number of users between 2002 and 2013. The Health Council At the time, in an extensive report, concerns about this enormous increase. The Council then warned of increased performance pressure and decreasing tolerance of children’s behavior.