Young people are ever more likely to be financially dependent on others, reports Trouw on Friday.

The paper requested figures from national statistics office, the CBS, and found that only a quarter of 20 to 25-year-olds can support themselves nowadays, compared with 45% at the beginning of this century.

In 2001, three-quarters of  25 to 30 year olds were financially independent but this dropped to 65% in 2014.

Job contracts

Kristina van der Molen, vice-president of FNV Jong union told Trouw: ‘Graduates sometimes work 40 hours a week for €250 a month [during internships] for as long as a year, which means relying on your parents is inevitable. Formerly, graduate jobs were for at least the minimum wage.’

Other causes of this dependency are an increase in flexible contracts rather than staff jobs, part-time work and youth unemployment, while young people are often studying for longer.

Weimer Salverda, a professor studying labour and social inequality at the University of Amsterdam added: ‘This is a serious issue for young people. Every year without income is a loss that can affect later income.’