Poverty: low-income rate

3.6%↘change: 1y -0.6 pts · 5y -4.3 pts · 10y -5.3 ptsas of 2023A source confidenceborn

What this number says

In 2023, 3.6% of Dutch households had an income below the CBS low-income threshold for at least a year. The CBS low-income threshold is a quasi-absolute standard — roughly the purchasing power of the Dutch social minimum, updated annually for prices only. This counts households below it for at least one year. It is not the EU's relative at-risk-of-poverty rate. CBS stopped updating this series after 2023; it is kept here as history, and poverty is now measured by the new budget-based method shown as the separate indicator 'People in poverty' (H8) — a different construct and unit, so the two lines are never joined. A price-fixed threshold shows whether the lowest incomes keep up with the cost of living — spells below it restrict access to everyday goods, stable housing and participation.

Low-income households — NetherlandsNetherlandsPersistent (4+ years)

⌇ 2011: Survey replaced by full administrative data (hard break) · ⌇ 2024: Series discontinued: CBS no longer updates the low-income figures from 2024 — poverty is now measured with the new CBS/SCP/Nibud method, a separate statistic that does not continue this line

Known criticisms of this statistic

Every statistic embodies method choices, and the substantive critiques of those choices are part of understanding the number. These are documented positions — each linked to who makes it. Listing a criticism is not endorsing it; we take no side.

CBS, SCP and Nibud concluded jointly in 2024 that the existing poverty measures had been 'overtaken by societal changes' — renewal was needed to reflect strongly risen housing and energy costs and what Dutch society now considers minimum necessities. From 2024, CBS no longer updates the low-income series shown here; poverty is measured with the new joint method instead.
— CBS, SCP and Nibud (joint report), 2024 · CBS/SCP/Nibud: De nieuwe methode om armoede in Nederland te meten
The threshold behind this series is a fixed purchasing-power amount anchored to the 1979 social-assistance level — 'relatively high at the time' — and indexed only for inflation ever since. That makes it well suited for comparisons over time, and by design blind to shifts in what society considers a minimum standard of living.
— CBS, SCP and Nibud (interim report), 2023 · CBS/SCP/Nibud tussenrapport: Op weg naar een nieuwe armoedegrens

Source & method

Source	CBS 83841NED
Licence	CC BY 4.0 (CBS)
Trend method	OLS over last 8 annual observations, 5% significance (MBW convention)
Revisions	None recorded since 2026-07-07. Every retrieval is stored append-only; when the source restates history, the old and new values become comparable here.

Raw snapshot (JSON) · every observation keeps its retrieval timestamp and revision history in the public database.

Data table — Low-income households (Netherlands)

Period	Value
2023	3.6
2022	4.2
2021	6.3
2020	6.8
2019	7.5
2018	7.9
2017	7.9
2016	7.9
2015	8.2
2014	8.5
2013	8.9
2012	8.0
2011	6.9