At the end of the first quarter, the Netherlands had 407,000 people on welfare. That is 23,000 fewer than the same period last year, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
This means that the number of people receiving social assistance benefits is at the lowest level since September 2013, more than eight and a half years ago. This is the fourth consecutive quarter in which the number of social assistance recipients has decreased.
Young people in particular are less and less on welfare. According to the CBS figures, the strongest (percent) decrease occurred among young people up to the age of 27, bringing the number down to just under 35,000.
Five years ago, the number of Dutch people on social assistance was still 472,000, which has been declining since the first quarter of 2017. At the beginning of the corona pandemic, the number rose slightly, but it never exceeded 430,000. Since the first quarter of last year, the number of social assistance recipients has been falling again.