NL: Lowest risk of poverty in EU

The Netherlands is performing above average on the policy themes of the Europe 2020 strategy, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. In the entire European Union, the Netherlands is doing better than average on the areas of poverty and social exclusion, employment, Research & Development (R&D) and higher education.  The Netherlands is, however, behind on renewable energy compared to most EU-countries, and the goal is still some way off. In 2012, the Netherlands had the lowest number of residents under threat of poverty and social exclusion in the EU. In all of Europe, a quarter of the population were risking poverty, whereas this concerned 15 percent of the Dutch population. The Netherlands, in the vein of the Europe 2020 strategy, has focused specifically on reducing the number of people in households with low work intensity, in the attempt to push back the number of people risking living in poverty or social exclusion. The crisis drove this percentage up from 8.2 percent in 2008 to almost 9 percent in 2012. The Netherlands had a 4.5 percent portion of renewable sources of energy consumption in 2012. Only Malta, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom had a lower portion. The goal for the Netherlands is that in 2020, 14 percent of the used energy will come from renewable sources. Employment opportunities in 2013 had the Netherlands in third place within the EU, the country was tenth in R&D spending in 2012, and eleventh for the portion of higher educated people in 2013. The Netherlands has already exceeded its quota for higher-educated 30-35-year olds that it agreed on for 2020, which was 40 percent.