SDG 1 No poverty

SDG 1 aims to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030. This also includes providing adequate social protection, equal economic rights and increased resilience to financial shocks, particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable groups.

• The financial resources of households are increasing.
• Poverty is falling and is low compared with other EU countries.
• The share of households with problematic debts is trending upwards.

Dashboard and indicators

Colour codes and notes to the dashboards in the Monitor of Well-being

Resources and opportunities refers to the financial means people have at their disposal and the support they can access. Available financial resources are measured based on changes in income, wealth and purchasing power. The data have been adjusted for price changes, based on the 2023 price level.

Average standardised disposable income per household is increasing, reaching 38,300 euros in 2023. Median disposable income is also trending upwards. The median is the middle value: half of all households had a lower income, while the other half had a higher income. The median disposable income (34,000 euros in 2023) is lower than the average, as the latter is inflated by the highest incomes. The Netherlands is near the top of the EU ranking for both indicators.

Wealth shows a rising trend. On 1 January 2023, the median wealth of Dutch households was 133,300 euros, down from 144,500 euros a year earlier. This decline, the first since 2014, is mainly due to the fall in house prices. The arrival of Ukrainian refugees also plays a role, as this group has little to no wealth (registered in the Netherlands).

In 2023, the purchasing power of the Dutch population increased by an average of 0.3 percent, following a 1.1 percent decline in 2022. Purchasing power is not developing at the same pace across all income brackets. The 10 percent of households with the lowest incomes saw a 1.7 percent increase in purchasing power, while the top 10 percent were faced with a 1.5 percent decrease. Low-income households benefited more from the measures put in place to boost purchasing power in 2023: on 1 January 2023, the minimum wage was increased, and there were corresponding increases in social assistance benefits and state pensions. Low-income households also received higher care benefits and an energy allowance, while benefiting from the energy price cap as well.

Use refers to the use of financial resources available to people, and of various forms of support. For this category, no indicators are available that meet the quality criteria of this report.

Outcomes refers to people who are living in poverty, as well as to access to basic necessities, such as safe and affordable independent housing. There are different definitions of poverty. The global SDG lower limit of 2.15 dollars per person per day (based on 2017 prices) is far too low for the Dutch context, making it irrelevant. To measure poverty in the Netherlands, two approaches are used. The first is a national approach that involves a new methodology based on a poverty line that matches the Dutch context. This new method was introduced in 2024 by CBS, Nibud and the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP), replacing previous methods. According to this instrument, a household is considered poor if, after paying for housing, energy and health care, it has insufficient income and immediately disposable wealth remaining to cover other basic needs. The second approach is the European method, which is based on relative poverty and allows for international comparison. The poverty line in this method is meant to identify the proportion of the population at risk of poverty. In this monitor, it is set at 60 percent of the median income of the entire population.

According to the new national method, poverty is decreasing. In 2023, 3.1 percent of the population lived in poverty. The proportion of people living in a poor household for three years or more is also declining, falling to 1.0 percent in 2023, which amounts to 173,000 people. This development can partly be attributed to income support measures. The proportion of minor-age children in poor families is also decreasing, falling to 3.6 percent in 2023. In 2018, at the start of this new poverty series, this was still 8.6 percent. It should be noted, however, that there were still 115,000 children living in poor households in 2023.

The European method shows that the risk of poverty or social exclusion in the Netherlands is low compared with other EU countries. The share of the Dutch population with multiple financial constraints, at risk of poverty or living in a household with little or no work is relatively small and declining. In 2024, this group represented 15.4 percent of the population, or 2.7 million people. The share of the population living in households with an income below 60 percent of the median disposable income in the Netherlands (the poverty line according to the European method) was 12.1 percent in 2024. This is low compared with other EU countries. The income shortfall was 17.3 per cent in 2024. This indicator, which reflects the intensity of poverty, is calculated by measuring the difference between the European poverty line and the median income of households at risk of poverty, expressed as a percentage of the poverty line.

The share of households with registered problematic debts is increasing. On 1 January 2024, it was 8.9 percent. This can be attributed to the rising number of households with outstanding debts with the Tax Administration, which temporarily stopped recovering excess supplementary benefit payments in late 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, followed by a pause for collecting other tax assessments in early 2021. As a result, these debts remained outstanding for longer than before. Recovery resumed in 2022.

In January 2024, 30 out of every 10,000 residents aged 18 to 64 were sleeping on the streets, in low-threshold shelters or with family or friends. Over 80 percent of them were male, and 32 percent were in one of the four major cities (Rotterdam, Amsterdam, The Hague or Utrecht). These figures have not changed significantly in recent years.

Perception refers to how people perceive their financial situation and whether they are worried about their financial future. In 2024, the share of the population that worried a lot about their financial future decreased to 26.1 percent. This percentage had previously decreased from the beginning of the measurement period in 2013, to 22.5 per cent in 2021, before rising to almost 29 percent in 2022 and 2023. Despite the decrease in 2024, the share of the population with serious worries is still higher than in 2021. According to the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB), both purchasing power and consumer confidence increased in 2024, which is consistent with the decrease in financial concerns.