765,000 people in the Netherlands: what the CODE ROOD study tells us about period poverty
Period poverty sounds like a problem somewhere else. It isn't. In 2024, 765,000 people in the Netherlands struggled to access menstrual products. That's not one neighbourhood, not one demographic, that's a city the size of Amsterdam.
What is CODE ROOD?
CODE ROOD is an annual study by Neighborhood Feminists, a Dutch non-profit fighting period poverty. They distribute products through pickup points (MUPs) across the country, and, just as importantly, make visible what numbers usually hide.
The 2024 edition is the first to properly map how many people in the Netherlands struggle with the basics: a tampon, a pad, a cup. It matters because period poverty has long been dismissed as "a small issue" here. It isn't.
The numbers
765,000 people had trouble accessing products
At some point in 2024, 765,000 people in the Netherlands couldn't reliably get menstrual products. Sometimes because of money, sometimes availability, often both.
13% of menstruating women couldn't afford products
One in eight. That's not a margin, that's structural.
400,000 women couldn't afford products at any point
Not "a tight month". Not "end of the month". Never. For 400,000 women in the Netherlands, a pack of tampons simply isn't in the budget.
1 in 5 had to change their daily routine
Skipping work, missing school, cancelling appointments. Period poverty isn't just about products, it's about missed lessons, shifts and opportunities.
More than 610,000 women fell back on poor alternatives
Toilet paper, old rags, newspaper, socks. Unhygienic, unsafe, and often with health consequences, from irritation to infections.
A lifetime of menstruating costs €498 to €5,730
On average, a person menstruates around 450 times in their life, adding up to 7.4 years. The cost in the Netherlands? Between €498 and €5,730, depending on the products used. For people counting every euro, that's not a detail.
More than a poverty problem: the knowledge gap
Period poverty isn't only about money. It sits on top of something deeper: a stubborn taboo, very little knowledge about your own body, and shame that keeps people from talking, not with friends, not with parents, not with their GP.
If you've never been taught how a cycle works, you also don't know what's normal. What's heavy bleeding. When to ask for help. Which products suit your body. Body literacy isn't a luxury. It's the baseline. And for many people, that baseline is missing.
As long as menstruation stays something we whisper about, period poverty stays invisible too. And invisible problems don't get solved.
What you can do
- Talk about it. With your daughter, son, colleague, best friend. The more normal the conversation, the smaller the taboo.
- Support the organisations doing the work. Neighborhood Feminists and Armoedefonds distribute products through MUPs across the Netherlands.
- Donate products. An extra pack of pads or tampons in your basket, dropped off at a pickup point. Small gesture, real impact.
- Ask for it at work or school. More and more places offer free products in bathrooms. Ask why yours doesn't yet.
Where PERIOD. fits in
Honestly: PERIOD. doesn't solve period poverty. We're a cycle app, not a non-profit. But we do believe the knowledge gap, one of the reasons this problem stays invisible, can shrink.
PERIOD. helps you understand your cycle: when you bleed, why your energy shifts, what a normal pattern looks like and what doesn't. Free, ad-free, and we don't sell your data. Because knowledge about your own body shouldn't be a privilege.
Read more
Want to learn more or contribute? Look up Neighborhood Feminists, Armoedefonds and Plan International Netherlands. The more people know the CODE ROOD 2024 numbers, the harder this problem is to ignore.
Source: CODE ROOD 2024, Neighborhood Feminists.
PERIOD. is free to download on the App Store and Google Play.
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