In the Netherlands, 5% of male cyclists and 3% of female cyclists wear helmets. This was found from observations of over 14,000 cyclists in 13 different cities in the Netherlands in the summer of 2023 [5]. The study also showed that helmet use increases with age. Among cyclists aged 12 to 18, 1% wear helmets, among cyclists aged 18 to 24 helmet use amounts to 2%, among 25- to 50-year-olds 4% and 7% among the over-50s. Among children under 12, 4% wear helmets. Helmet use on pedelecs (8%) is higher than that on regular bicycles (3%).
So, in general, bicycle helmets are not a familiar sight in Dutch streets. Bicycle helmet use is much lower in the Netherlands than in other countries. For example, a worldwide survey [6] shows that 87% of Dutch adult cyclists say they have cycled without a helmet at some point in the past 30 days, the highest percentage of all 32 participating countries. The average in the 20 participating European countries was 69%, 51% in the United States and 30% in Australia.
Incidentally, this means that in the previous month 13% of the Dutch respondents did wear a helmet, a significantly higher percentage than was found in the Dutch observational study mentioned above. The difference is presumably explained by the fact that while the vast majority of sports cyclists/racing cyclists in the Netherlands do wear helmets [7], this group is underrepresented in urban environments, i.e. where the observations took place. Furthermore, cyclists who occasionally, but not always, use a helmet say they do so mainly on longer bicycle trips [8], again a group presumably underrepresented in the observational study.