At the end of last year, 394,000 people received a general social assistance benefit. That is more than 3 percent less than a year earlier and is the smallest number since March 2013, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands.
The number of recipients fell the most in the group aged between 27 and 45, at 6 percent. Among young people up to the age of 27, the decline was less rapid, with a decrease of 4 percent. The decline was smallest among the over-45s. There, the number fell by only 2 percent.
There was also a decrease in the number of social assistance recipients in 2021. This is in contrast to the first corona year 2020. Then more than thirteen thousand recipients were added. This was a clear break with the trend of previous years, when the number of recipients fell.
In the Netherlands you receive general assistance if you do not have enough income to make ends meet and are also not entitled to any other benefit, such as the WW or AOW. Those who have little income but have a lot of assets are also not entitled to it.