Netherlands failed to reduce childhood poverty: UNICEF

The Netherlands has failed to reduce poverty among children in recent years. UNICEF concluded this in a report published on Wednesday on child poverty in 39 countries, comparing 2012-2014 with 2019-2021.

Of the countries surveyed, the Netherlands ranks 17th regarding child poverty. But, the aid organization also created a ranking that tracks how successful countries have been in reducing child poverty in recent years. On that ranking, the Netherlands is in 27th place. According to the report, the share of children growing up in poverty in the Netherlands has hardly changed: from 12.6 percent in 2012 to 12.7 percent in 2021.

Other countries surveyed have done better in the same period. For example, poverty among Hungarian children fell from 23.3 to 10.1 percent, UNICEF reports. In Poland, the number of children in poverty fell from 23.3 to 14.3 percent, and in Slovenia, the percentage went from 14.7 to 9.3 percent.

“These findings indicate that the Netherlands, despite its prosperity, still has a long way to go in the fight against child poverty,” said Suzanne Laszlo, director of UNICEF Nederland. “Prosperity does not benefit everyone. It is clear that there is a need for a more targeted and effective approach, which goes beyond economic prosperity and focuses on the real needs and challenges of families in poverty.”

UNICEF sees that the Netherlands is taking steps to combat child poverty. “According to figures from Statistics Netherlands, poverty appears to decline in the years after 2021, but there is concern that this is partly due to temporary arrangements, which means that the decline is not structural,” said UNICEF Nederland.

The aid organization is somewhat hopeful about the increase in the child-related budget in 2024, and that parliament has approved an increase in the housing allowance. “It is essential that the Netherlands continues to make large-scale efforts to improve social security on a large scale, and these steps are important in that regard. At the same time, they are a drop in the ocean,” said Laszlo.

The number of impoverished children in all surveyed countries fell by 8 percent. However, the situation is still “worrisome,” UNICEF said. “There are still more than 69 million children in a situation of poverty.”