Nearly a quarter of Amsterdammers live in poverty

A total of 96,246 Amsterdam households are living in poverty. That is 23.7 percent of all Amsterdam residents, an increase of 1.3 percent compared to 2013. This is according to the municipality of Amsterdam's annual Poverty Monitor. Poverty increased in all four of the large cities in the Netherlands last year. While Amsterdam had the lowest increase, the poverty in the city is still higher than the national average of 15.3 percent. The increase can partly be attributed to the poverty line increasing from 110 percent to 120 percent of the statutory minimum wage in recent years. A third of the households living on minimum incomes are on welfare, a third are employed and a third are on other benefits or pensions. The largest group - 82 percent - of the households living on low incomes consist of single people. 66 percent are single people without children and 16 percent are single parents. Elderly people and children in the capital live in poverty most often. Almost a third of kids between the ages of 10 and 14 years grow up in a minimum income household. 28 percent of elderly people above the age of 65 live on low income. The municipality has made 80 million euros available to fight poverty in the coming years. The rules for poverty facilities will also be simplified to make it easier for poor Amsterdam residents to make use of these facilities and to adhere to the rules that apply to them.