More people on welfare, especially young people

The group of people in the Netherlands receiving social assistance benefits has grown in the second quarter of the year, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. This is the fourth quarter in a row in which the number of welfare recipients has been higher than the year before. This follows nine quarters in a row when the number of people on welfare was lower than the year before.

In the second quarter, 40,000 people up to the age of 27 were receiving social assistance benefits, a nine percent decrease compared to a year earlier. Of all the people on welfare, 10 percent were young adults. This is the sixth quarter in a row that there has been an increase.

Among those from 27-45 years old, the number of welfare recipients increased by a thousand people to 136,000. In this age group, the number of welfare recipients rose for two consecutive quarters. The number of welfare recipients aged 45 and over was also higher in the second quarter, reaching 229,000 people.

In total, about 405,000 people received social assistance benefits at the end of June. That was 6,000 more than the same quarter a year ago.

The increase is mainly due to more men receiving benefits. It is the fifth quarter in a row that more men were receiving social assistance than a year earlier. The number of women receiving benefit payments remained approximately the same.

That said, the distribution of women and men on social assistance has remained virtually unchanged since 2013. Approximately 57 percent are women and 43 percent are men, the CBS said.