The contribution of illegal activities to national income in the Netherlands

Recently Statistics Netherlands has started research into the share of illegal activities in the national income. The total contribution of illegal activities to the national income of the Netherlands increased from 1800 million euro in 1995 to almost 3500 million euro in 2008, equalling 0.6 percent of gross national income. The main illegal sector is drugs, which accounted for over 50 percent of the total income from illegal activities in 2001. In 2008 that share was down to less than 40 percent, whereas finding illegal employment rose from about 10 percent in 1995 to 33 percent in 2008.