More people receiving social assistance benefits, especially young people affected

More people claimed social assistance in the first quarter of this year than in previous years. This was mainly due to the fact that more young people up to the age of 27 received social assistance. However, for the first time since the beginning of 2021, more people over the age of 27 have also received social assistance benefits, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reports.

At the end of March, 403,000 people up to AOW age received general social assistance benefits, 1 percent more than a year earlier. This is the third consecutive quarter in which the number of welfare recipients has risen.

In the under-27 age group, there was an increase of 8 percent to 39,000 people. In the 27 to 45 age group, the number of welfare recipients rose by 1 percent to 136,000.

The increase in the number of social assistance benefits, especially among young people, is probably due to the fact that unemployment in that group also increased faster in the past year. In certain cases, unemployed people are entitled to social assistance benefits.

The CBS has also broken down the figures by gender. At the end of March, 2% more men received social benefits than a year earlier. The number of women receiving social assistance has remained the same. However, there are still more women than men receiving social assistance. They account for around 57% of all social assistance benefits.