Almost all pensioners in the Netherlands have other sources of income in addition to their state pension (AOW), the national statistics office CBS said on Thursday.

In 2010, 1.8 million households received a state pension – some €1,070 for a single person and €1,520 for a couple.
Of those, some 5,000 households relied on the state pension only. Some 170,000 households had additional income of up to €250 a month. However, over half the pensioner households benefited by at least €1,000 a month from a corporate pension scheme or other assets.
Single women over the age of 65 were worst off in 2010, with an average income of just over €2,000 a month. Single men had slightly higher incomes of €2,370 while couples in which both partners were retired had an average income of €3,460.
Poor pensioners
However, last September, the CBS reported the number of pensioners claiming welfare benefits because they are not entitled to a full state pension had more than doubled over the past 10 years.
Nine out of 10 claimants have an ethnic minority background and have not lived in the Netherlands long enough to qualify for a full state pension.
In total, some 40,000 pensioners are claiming extra cash help, the CBS said.
The over 65s need to have lived in the Netherlands from the age of 15 in order to qualify for a full state pension. This means that people who came to the Netherlands to work at the age of 20, are only eligible for 90%. If they have no other financial means, they can claim welfare (bijstand) to make up the difference.