Poverty in the Netherlands is declining, but 8% of children grow up in a poor family

Poverty in the Netherlands is declining but there were still 940,000 people who could be classified as poor in 2017, the government’s socio-cultural thinktank SCP said on Tuesday.

In 2013, 1.2 million people were classed as poor, or 5.7% of the population. The total has gone down because of economic growth and declining unemployment, the SCP said, yet around one third of people classified as poor have jobs.

Around 8% of Dutch children are growing up in poor families but just 3% of pensioners are considered to be poor.

The SCP defines poverty as having less than enough money to provide for basic living needs and to participate in society – around €1,135 for a single person and €2,200 for a family with two children in 2017.

The national statistics office CBS, which uses a different definition of poverty, said last year some 8.2% of Dutch households had an income on, or just above the poverty line in 2017, and that this was a rise on 2016.

The CBS says single people with an income of no more than €1,040 and families with children on an income of €1,960 risk poverty. Families with a single, low-skilled breadwinner are most at risk of falling below the poverty line.