Most young adults now struggle to make ends meet, Nibud finds

More than half of young adults in the Netherlands now struggle to make ends meet, according to a new report from the national budget institute Nibud, which shows the first clear deterioration in household finances after years of gradual improvement.

The share of all households finding it hard to get by has risen to 38%, up from 32% two years ago, the report says. The proportion worrying regularly about their finances climbed from 27% to 33%.

That reverses a long downward trend: the figure had fallen steadily from 45% in 2012 to a low of 32% in 2024.

Young adults aged 18 to 30 saw by far the sharpest change, with the share struggling jumping from 40% to 54%. “The positive trend we still saw in 2024 seems to be over,” Nibud director Mattias Gijsbertsen said.

Renters and the self-employed hit hardest
Among renters, 56% struggle to get by, against 24% of homeowners; among households on a low income the figure is 62%, against 22% on a high income.

The security of income matters as much as its size. Of households whose pay varies from month to month, 51% struggle, up from 39% in 2024, compared with 35% of those on a steady income.

Around one in five households now has a variable income, rising to 51% among the self-employed and 39% among young adults. Many of the country’s international residents fall into exactly those groups – renting rather than owning, and more often on temporary or freelance contracts.

Missed bills and thin buffers
A quarter of households could not pay a bill at some point in the past year, up from 17% in 2024. More than half ran into at least one kind of payment problem, and 31% faced three or more.

Everyday costs are increasingly hard to cover: 41% of all households now find groceries difficult to pay for, rising to 81% among those already struggling.”

Savings are also low, with nearly a third of households having €2,500 or less set aside, and 23% have less than €1,000. “You can’t absorb many blows with that,” Gijsbertsen said.