Many Dutch retirees saw significant purchasing power decline since 2011

Retirees with a substantial supplementary pension have seen a significant decline in their purchasing power since 2011, according to figures published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on Friday. Most pensioners saw virtually no growth in their purchasing power between 1989 and 2022.

Retirees with supplementary pensions took a significant hit in the past years because supplementary pensions hadn’t increased in a long time. Between 2011 and 2022, the purchasing power of retirees with over 3,000 euros in supplementary pension saw their purchasing power fall by almost 11 percent. Those with supplementary pensions of between 1,000 and 2,000 euros took a 5 percent hit.

Retirees with a small supplementary pension, on the other hand, saw an increase in purchasing power. According to CBS, that is mainly due to government measures to help low-income households pay their energy bills during the energy crisis in 2022. It is important to note that many pension funds increased pensions last year, after these CBS figures.

CBS looked at the purchasing power of all Netherlands residents between 1989 and 2022. According to the stats office, Dutch people’s purchasing power grew by an average of 53 percent in those years, mainly because more women joined the workforce.

Salaried employees saw the biggest increase in purchasing power (+112 percent), while self-employed people’s increased by 80 percent. Pensioners’ purchasing power increased by only 4 percent in that period.

Having children has been remarkably beneficial to your purchasing power in the past decades. According to CBS, parents - whether single or in a couple - saw their purchasing power grow by around 80 percent since 1989. That is mainly because more mothers joined the labor market and worked more hours. But an increase in the child-related budget also played a big role. Couples and singles without children saw their purchasing power grow by around 20 percent in that period.

In general, Netherlands residents had a little bit more to spend every year in recent decades. The exception to this was the credit crisis between 2009 and 2013 when many people’s incomes were under pressure.