This was predict by the Centraal Planbureau (Central Planning Bureau, CPB) using statistics from the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (Central Bureau for Statistics, CBS).
How low income is defined, depends on the circumstances. For a single person, this is an income to 1,020 euros net per month. For a couple with three children, the maximum 2,100 euros net. They have, according to the CBS ''a risk of poverty''.
734 thousand households in The Netherlands had a low income last year. It's about 10.4 percent of all households in The Netherlands. A year earlier, it was about 728 thousand households, or 10.3 percent, a negligible difference. This year, it falls to 10.1 percent, the first decline in years.
Early Years
This figure is expected to drop further to 10.0 percent next year. It is still significantly more than in the early years of the economic crisis, when about 7.5 percent of households had a low income.
According to Peter Hein van Mulligen, chief economist of the CBS, this stabilisation is a sign of recovery in the economy. ''The fact that the drop in poverty in 2015 and 2016 is still modest, is because the recovery in the labour market remains limited. Moreover, people with low incomes are often relatively poorly educated. For low-skilled employment prospects are worse than for those with more education.''
Conversely to those who are now climbing out of low income, there is a growing group that still stays within this group. They have a "long-term low income." That means they have little money for at least four years in a row. In 2009, 2.5 percent of all households had a long-term low income, now it is 3.3 percent. In numbers, the group has increased from 157 thousand to 217 thousand.
The Youth
Especially single-parent families with young children are struggling. One out of three of them get by on a low income. Among non-western immigrants, the low-income group has increased considerably in recent years. But it can also fall back quickly, because this group is younger than the Dutch average.
People in the lowest income group are often more suspected of crimes. Of all the suspects, more than 40 percent of that group. Furthermore, it appears that low-income people are less active compared to workers with higher incomes. Also, they are less politically active. The children in the group with low incomes have less money for trips.