Ownership and disposal of TVs in Dutch households

This study examined the number of TVs present in Dutch households and how many were discarded in 2017.

In 2017, there were 17.6 million TVs in Dutch households, which is 300,000 more than in 2016 (+1.6%). The number of CRT TVs has significantly decreased. In 2017, there were only 2.2 million CRT TVs present, compared to 3.1 million in 2016, and only 47% (1 million) were still in use. On the other hand, the number of flat-screen TVs in Dutch households increased from 14.1 million to 15.1 million. However, the share of unused flat-screen TVs increased from 4% in 2016 (600,000) to 8% in 2017 (1.2 million).

In 2017, a total of 2.1 million TVs were discarded from Dutch households. About half of them were still in use (1 million). Working CRT TVs were relatively more often discarded because they were no longer in use (40%). For flat-screen TVs, the most mentioned reason was giving them away to family, friends, or acquaintances (42%). Compared to 2016, the number of discarded CRT TVs decreased from 1.6 million to 0.9 million in 2017. The number of discarded flat-screen TVs in 2017 remained the same at 1.1 million. Unlike CRT TVs, more than half of these flat-screen TVs were still in use before being discarded (63%).