Amsterdam has highest proportion of long-term low incomes

Households who have been living on low incomes for four years or more are mainly found in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Four in ten municipalities with the greatest risk of long-term poverty are situated in the south of the province of Limburg.

Households living on long-term low incomes by municipality, 2008

One quarter of low incomes live in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague

With 6.5 percent, Amsterdam has the highest proportion of households living below the low-income cut-off. With 5.8 percent, Rotterdam is in second place. In both cities, long-term low-income households are relatively often in the category one-parent families. More than one in ten children under the age of 18 belong to families who have lived on low incomes for a period of at least four years. The nationwide average is much lower (more than 3 percent).

The Hague is also among the 10 cities with the highest risk of long-term poverty. Together, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague account for one quarter of all long-term low-income households.

Also many long-term low-incomes in the south of Limburg

The top-ten list of municipalities with the highest rate of long-term low incomes includes four municipalities in the south of Limburg: Vaals, Heerlen, Kerkrade and Roermond. The proportion of people living on social security and unemployment benefits is high in these municipalities, just as in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Disabled and pensioners often have relatively low incomes.

Ten municipalities with the highest proportion of long-term low incomes, 2008

Proportion of long-term low incomes not reduced further in 2009

In 2008, 2.6 percent of all households ((160 thousand households in absolute figures) in the Netherlands had been living on incomes below the low-income income cut-off for at least four years. The proportion of households living on long-term low incomes has steadily declined between 2000 and 2008. The latest provisional figures show that the decline did not continue in 2009.

Petra Ament