Men more likely to make ends meet; Also more likely to have debt
Men in the Netherlands are more likely than women to make ends meet, have money left over at the end of the month and pay their bills without problems, a Deloitte study has found. At the same time, men are more likely to carry debts.
Financial health improved for both men and women in 2025, the researchers said. The gender gap that had narrowed slightly in the previous five years has now stalled.
“Men made more progress last year than women,” Deloitte researcher Peter van Loon told NU.nl. Men worked more hours than women, benefited more from wage increases and are more often employed in sectors where pay rose faster.
Nearly 80 percent of men have some or a lot of money left over each month, compared with 73 percent of women. Women more often break even exactly and more frequently use savings to get by.
Both genders said it is easier to make ends meet than a year earlier, with men reporting this more often. Men also said more often that they can pay bills without issues and that covering essential living costs is easier.
“All in all, the financial situation for women is on average less rosy and more uncertain than that of men,” the researchers wrote. Women remain overrepresented in the group with lower financial health, said poverty researcher Anna Custers, who was not involved in the study.
Men earn more on average. Seventy-one percent of men have above-modal incomes, compared with 62 percent of women. Women more often take on unpaid care tasks, with financial consequences that can last until retirement age. Men build up nearly twice as much pension each year as women.
To help close the pension gap, Deloitte said the government should promote a fairer division of care tasks, for example through affordable child care and equal or more equal parental leave. “Because if care tasks are divided fairly and the pay gap disappears, the pension gap will also disappear in the long term.”
Custers said it is too easy to tell women they should simply work more hours to earn more. “Care tasks are unpaid, while that is indeed work. The question is how this work is valued. Further, working part time is not a choice for everyone,” she said.
Despite their financial advantages, 47 percent of men have debts, compared with 41 percent of women. “They take more risks on average,” van Loon said. “They overestimate their chances and skills more. I think men are more inclined to take on debts for a reward.” Men also worry more often about their debts.
Women are more likely to pay bills afterward, which can also be risky. “But in general, women are more conservative,” van Loon said. “They are more inclined to save.”
