Baby penalty

In order to determine the change in income following the birth of the first child, Statistics Netherlands’ Integrated Income and Wealth Survey was used, based on tax data from the Dutch population.

The population studied consists of men and women who had their first child (or multiple births) between 1996 and 2018 and were in employment prior to the birth. Income from work (gross annual income from employment or self-employment) in the year prior to the birth of the first child for this group was compared with the income six years later, for successive birth cohorts and for men and women separately. More information about the calculation of the baby penalty can be found in the Emancipation Monitor 2026.

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