More children live in families which rely on welfare benefits

The number of children growing up in families which rely on welfare benefits (bijstand) rose to 223,000 last year, according to the national statistics office CBS.

This means 6.5% of all children in the Netherlands live in families with an income of just over €1,000 a month plus housing, healthcare and child subsidies. Their number has risen since 2009, when the figure was 5.2%.

Some 37% of children in families on welfare do not take part in non-school activities such as sport or music lessons because of a lack of cash and 16% don’t celebrate birthdays with presents, the CBS survey found.

Rotterdam has proportionally the most children growing up in minimum income households. In total, 18% of the port city’s children are poor. Amsterdam is next on the list with 14%. Small towns in the far north and south are also more likely to have a disproportionate number of families living on welfare, the CBS said.