85% of Amsterdam women avoid certain parts of the city for safety

https://nltimes.nl/2025/09/09/85-amsterdam-women-avoid-certain-parts-city-safety

by Background_Age_852

47 comments

  2. I wonder what has changed in recent years to make this the new norm.

  3. So much for far right, law and order parties like the PVV fixing any of this, how’s that’s blown up government going?

  4. That’s a pretty significant number, definitely something worth paying attention to.

  5. Kinda feels weird hearing stuff like this. I never felt afraid to walk around at night since i was 13, and neither did my parents worry. I wonder how much things have changed in Europe as a whole.

  7. Please remember surely nothing has changed and it’d be a huge shame if we noticed something.

  8. >Men included, around 70 percent of Amsterdammers have areas they consider dangerous.

    So that would be about 55% of men. While the gender disparity shouldn’t be overlooked, this is a problem affecting everyone.

  9. certain parts of any city have always been avoided everywhere in the world and always will be. it shouldnt be that way, but to which magical part of history are you referring? i am from zagreb, an eastern european capital ranked quite consistently as the safest capital of EU, and certain aprts of the city are to be avoided, and always were to be avoided (looking at you dubrava/pescenica)

  10. Avoiding certain parts of the city… Does that mean they avoid the infrastructure there (bulidings, streets,…)? Is the infrastrucutre there dangerous?

    Or do they avoid ppl there? Is it ok to avoid the same ppl in other parts of the city? Are we speaking about racism here???

    “City parks were most often mentioned, specifically Vondelpark, Sarphatipark, and Oosterpark. “You have less of an overview there, and there are fewer people around,” one respondent said about going to a park at night. “If something happens, you have less chance of getting to a safe place or of being able to talk to someone. Then I do feel like something could happen.”” – What exactly could happen? Touching a thorny or poisonos plant? Biting dogs? Snakes? Falling into a hole in the ground???

    What is meant by “something”??? Can anybody clarify?

  11. These numbers don’t really mean anything without proper comparators.

    Considering 85% of women and 70% of people feel unsafe, it should be reasonable to assume that means 55% of men feel unsafe too.

    So now we know that both there is a large gender gap where women feel more unsafe than men and that there are areas where the majority of people feel unsafe.

    Next we need to see how that stacks up with other comparable cities, both in and out of the country.

    Without proper comparisons, it feels like the article is less for informing and more for alarming.

    I also don’t think it’s good to jump to conclusions about the cause when the article doesn’t say any itself, nor does it even specify which areas people feel unsafe in.

  12. But however direct the Dutch may be, pointing to what has changed is taboo. When once again a woman is harassed, the suspects are simplified to “youths on fatbikes”. National governmental news organisation omits descriptions that regional newspapers do write down. Even though there for sure may be other causes at the same time, that-what-shall-not-be-named is only named by those who have personal security.

  14. #*85% of Amsterdam women avoid certain parts of the city for safety*

    ~~De Telegraaf, August 1893~~ Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c., 1663

  15. Ask the engineers and the doctors they have welcomed in with big signs to accompany them…oh, wait…

  16. Wouldn’t this be common in most cities? Are there places where women wouldn’t avoid walking through unlit parks in the middle of the night in the worst part of the city?

  18. Nothing new, the mentioned areas are well known places for…. less desirable people to hangout. And it’s not only women, everyone has their thoughts about walking there alone. 

    It’s mainly drugs and everything connected to it, from homeless addicts to youth dealing and everything in between.

  19. That seems like bait. Certain countries or cities might be more dangerous now and this wouldn’t be an indicator for it.

    I can talk only for Spain but I assume in ither countries there have been always parts with more criminality that most of the people in the city used to avoid. You’ll be lying to yourselves thinking 20 years ago every street was rainbows and happiness

  20. No shit, they feel unsafe when they go to areas that are used to sell drugs. Drugs, btw, the stats show that the native population buys in mass, a lot more than immigrant kids. You can’t finance these people and then complain about why they are in your city, making it unsafe.

    Again, people, crime is down countrywide, with a 60% total. The country has never been as safe as it is today.

    Yes, if you go to a specific area where the drug dealers are working in the city with the most tourists who come here because of drugs, I understand you feel unsafe, but nobody is forcing you to do that.

  22. Alright, I’ll ask. Which parts & why? Unsafe is a bit open to interpretation. I personally loathe the canals, bloody death traps when you’re wasted foreigner

  23. Doesn’t everyone avoid certain parts of every city? The parts where people go if they want drugs, prostitution, or a fight?

    I know the shitty parts of my city to avoid.

  24. > Half of the respondents said they experienced something intimidating or scary on the street, ranging from verbal abuse and catcalling to threats and even physical assault. **Yet 91 percent did not report the incident to the police.**

    well it’s kind of hard to fix things if you don’t report them. the alternative is to have cameras everywhere or a police state with military every 200 meters. is this what you are looking for ? i don’t

  26. I understand the focus on women, but honestly to make matters worse, it’s both men and women that don’t feel safe in some parts of Amsterdam. I personally avoid many areas in Nieuw-West too especially at night

  27. How does this compare to previous years? Cities have always had dangerous parts.

  28. That would be probably true in any city, at any moment of history.

  29. No wonder people lean towards right wing when they are tired of this one-sided tolerance that happens in their country. Wishing all the best to the Dutch people

  32. Amsterdam was such a beautiful place when I visited it.

  33. 50 percent of the population of Amsterdam didn’t live there 10 years ago.

    Amsterdam has completely been transformed during my lifetime and is now unrecognisable.

  34. That’s so sad but honestly not surprising… no one should have to map their day around “safe zones” We deserve to just exist anywhere without fear

  35. Well, you haven’t been there in the 80s/90s if you can single out certain streets. 

    So basically nothing changed.  Such a shame. 

  36. Cause they’re obviously Nazis, right reddit? lol

  37. You have to remember that it’s very subjective. I’ve met 100s of Hungarians who state that certain parts of the city are dangerous and they’d never go there…and I’ve spent plenty of time there and felt 100% safe, ditto female migrants.

    So if Amsterdam is incredibly safe, somewhere slightly more dangerous might feel threatening when it would be 100x safer than the safest spot in NYC, London, or Paris.

  38. Nothing to see here, move on. It’s the same everywhere. It was the same all the time. It’s men too. All normal. All good, just move on, don’t ask any questions.

  39. im going to Amsterdam later this year, which places are best to avoid?

  41. Those are places I generally don’t go either

    Mostly because I don’t live in the Netherlands

  42. Name me a large city on earth where this wouldn’t have been true throughout all of human history.  

  43. I was in Amsterdam in 2004. The city itself was really nice, but there were a lot of scammers and people that aggressively attempted to get money from you at the busier tourist spots. The real danger zone was the centre of the city, which had the red light district. The general “red light” area was clearly signed, but you have to go through certain parts of it to get anywhere, basically. It was mixed in with family friendly restaurants and shops. A very weird experience. We were approached by drug dealers and prostitutes right in the open. I believe it is now safer than it used to be… but evidently not by much.

  45. I avoid parts of my city, because that’s where all the crime is.

  46. 85 percent of women in Amsterdam avoid specific places in the city because they feel unsafe, AT5 [reported](https://www.at5.nl/artikelen/234303/7-op-de-10-panelleden-mijden-plekken-in-de-stad-uit-veiligheid-onder-vrouwen-zelfs-85) after surveying over 2,100 Amsterdam residents. Men included, around 70 percent of Amsterdammers have areas they consider dangerous.

    On average, Amsterdammers give how safe they feel in the city at night a 6 out of 10. But that comes with the warning to avoid certain places in the dark. City parks were most often mentioned, specifically Vondelpark, Sarphatipark, and Oosterpark. “You have less of an overview there, and there are fewer people around,” one respondent said about going to a park at night. “If something happens, you have less chance of getting to a safe place or of being able to talk to someone. Then I do feel like something could happen.”

    Other risky areas mentioned were industrial estates, shopping streets after closing time, bicycle tunnels in various parts of the city, and the areas around train stations. Transformatorweg in the West district, Vliegenbosch in Noord, Christoffel Plantijnpad in Nieuw-west, and the section of Rozenburghlaan and Weesperzijde in Amsterdam Oost were specifically mentioned.

    “There are places in Amsterdam I prefer not to go after dark. The atmosphere on Leidsestraat and Kalverstraat can be very grim after the shops close,” a respondent said. Another: “I find bicycle tunnels difficult, and I avoid them as much as possible after dark. I prefer to take a detour then.”

    Half of the respondents said they experienced something intimidating or scary on the street, ranging from verbal abuse and catcalling to threats and even physical assault. Yet 91 percent did not report the incident to the police.

    Over half of the panel members said they don’t think the police do enough to ensure safety on the streets. “The police have become invisible since the neighborhood police officer disappeared. You feel like you’re being abandoned to your own devices,” one said. Other panelists believe the police are doing their best, but can’t prevent everything.

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