23-05-2025
UK and Netherlands among Europe's most 'overbearing' nanny states
While the UK and the Netherlands are arguably the historic homelands of libertarian and free-market economic philosophy and personal freedoms, at least in Europe, turns out they have morphed into two of the most 'paternalistic' of the continent's so-called nanny states.
The 2025 Nanny State Index, published by London-based Institute for Economic Affairs and the Brussels-based European Policy Information Centre, lists Turkey, Lithuania and Finland as the most restrictive places to drink alcohol, smoke, vape and snack, with the UK the seventh-worst and the Netherlands close behind at 12th on the list of most "overbearing" countries.
The UK's ranking would likely have been close to bottom had the government not withdrawn a proposal made last year to ban smoking outdoors in beer gardens.
Germany, with its history of sternly Prussian or green or social democrat-tinted statism - turns out to be Europe's closest thing to libertarian utopia, with Luxembourg next and the top five of the 29-country league table rounded out by Italy, Spain and Czechia.
Ireland, with its pub-crawl image and popularity with tourists from the US (the self-styled 'land of the free') fares worse than the UK, coming in as mollycoddler number five in the 2025 index.
Ireland's visitor numbers have plummeted thios year, with the first two months seeing drops of around 20% compared to 2024 as complaints soar about the high cost of hotels, transport and beer.
The Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, has long been known for its permissiveness and anything-goes aura. But recent years have seen city authorities and locals in Amsterdam rail against ill-behaved visitors to its marijuana cafes and red-light district.
Policies such as sugar taxes, curbs on smoking in public, high duties on alcohol and cigarettes and related advertising bans were considered in the compiling of the latest index, which the IEA has been updating since first publishing in 2016.
"Insofar as public health campaigners acknowledge the damage done by their policies, they argue that it is more than offset by the benefit to health - the ends justify the means," the index report authors said.
"But there is little evidence that countries with more paternalistic policies enjoy greater health or longevity," they claimed.
