Single parents lead big rise in Netherlands welfare reliance

An increasing number of Dutch households are heavily reliant on welfare benefits to get through the month. Between 2008 and 2014 the proportion increased from 9.1 percent to 11.6 percent. Single-parent families and non-western households are most often dependent on benefits to make ends meet, according to figures released by Statistics Netherlands on Tuesday. A massive 33 percent of single-parent families with young children were strongly dependent on benefits in 2014. That means that benefits made up at least 40 percent of their income. Only 6 percent of two-parent households were strongly dependent on benefits. 30 percent of households in which the main bread winner is of a non-western nationality were strongly dependent on benefits. Both these types of families are also at a significantly increased risk of long term poverty, according to Statistics Netherlands. A total of 875 thousand households were strongly dependent on benefits in 2014, 214 thousand more than in 2008 and 17 thousand more than in 2013. In 70 percent of these households the main benefit received was an assistance benefit or disability benefit. Approximately 435 thousand households were already dependent on benefits for more than four years. In 2014 benefits formed part of 1.9 million households' gross monthly income, an increase of 47 thousand compared to 2013.