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Many children live in poverty
It is surprising that poverty among children is relatively greater than among adults. Last year, for example, 7.2 per cent of children in the Netherlands lived in poverty. Money problems across all age groups combined amounted to 5.7 percent. Relatively more children are poor, partly because some parents stop working temporarily or work fewer hours after the child is born.
Child poverty has decreased almost every year since 2013. 350,000 children lived in poverty that year, or 10.2 percent of the total. Last year it was down to 7.2%. Poverty is projected to increase significantly this year to 9.2%, or 301,000 children. Due to government plans, the share of poor children is likely to drop to 6.7 percent next year.
Often problems with people on welfare
Those who benefit from subsidies run the greatest risk of poverty. Especially if you are on social work, it is difficult to make ends meet. Of the 507,000 families facing poverty, more than half (268,000) must survive on benefits (excluding AOW retirees). Among the employed, that number remains “limited” to 168,000, with a relatively large share for the self-employed.
Families with a non-Western migration background are over-represented in the poverty data. More than one in five households in this group have a low income. The biggest problems concern people of Syrian origin, 54% of whom live in poverty. Families of Eritrean origin have too little money in 40% of cases.
Families with a Western migration background also struggle to make ends meet. People of Bulgarian descent are a negative outlier with nearly 20%.
Randstad, South Limburg and Groningen are problematic regions
Not surprisingly, poverty is particularly prevalent in large cities. The outliers are Amsterdam, Arnhem, The Hague, Groningen and Rotterdam. There, over 11% of households have to make do with a very thin wallet. The percentage is highest in Rotterdam, where more than one in eight households (12.8%) live in poverty. Numbers two and three are Groningen and Amsterdam.
In other parts of the country, too, there are many families living on little money. For example, in South Limburg there are four municipalities where over 9% of the inhabitants are poor. And even in much of the province of Groningen and Twente, many people find it difficult to make ends meet.
The Netherlands is doing better than its neighbors
Although poverty in the Netherlands is significant, we are not doing that badly compared to other EU countries. In 22 of the other 26 Member States, poverty is higher than here, according to data from the European Statistical Institute Eurostat.
European accountants examine whether people are able, for example, to change their clothes, keep their homes or incur unforeseen expenses. One in six Dutch people (16.6%) would find it difficult to do so, Eurostat thinks. This is less than in most EU countries, including neighboring countries like Germany, France and Belgium.
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