This thesis focuses on population health in the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curaçao, as compared to the Netherlands and to other Caribbean states. It aims to provide a better insight into the health situation in the Dutch Caribbean, and the factors related to this health situation, in particular the role of the political context and health policy performance. In order to address this aim, we have made use of data that are derived from cross-sectional health surveys, mortality registration systems, harmonized international databases and country reports and cover theory from the fields of public health, medicine, political science, organization science, economics and sociology. The main conclusion of this thesis is that the health of the Dutch Caribbean population is poorer than in the Netherlands and other politically affil