Relatively many people on welfare in the four major cities

Relatively many households are on welfare in the four major cities. Rotterdam has the record with one in six households on welfare on 31 March 2003. Most welfare benefits go to single people and one-parent families, who tend to live mostly in the major cities.

Welfare benefits

There are also many households dependent on welfare in Amsterdam and The Hague where one in nine households lived on welfare, and in Utrecht with one in fourteen. In the other municipalities the average was one in 21 households.

Welfare dependency rate per municipality, 31 March 2003

Twice as many welfare benefits in the four big cities

On 31 March 2003 some 325 thousand welfare benefits were provided in the Netherlands. Some 106 thousand were provided to households in the four major cities. Twice as many households depend on welfare in these major cities than in the rest of the country.

Welfare mainly goes to singles and one-parent families

Welfare is provided to households that cannot meet the cost of living. The share of welfare recipients among single people is 11 percent and among single-parent families 24 percent. This is substantially more that among households consisting of couples, of which 1.5 percent was on welfare. These households have better opportunities of generating an income from work.

Welfare dependency rate by type of household, 31 March 2003

Welfare in major cities mostly paid to singles

Relatively many single people and single-parent families live in the four major cities. This explains in part why there is such a large share of households on welfare. But even when the figures are corrected for type of households, the dependency on welfare in Rotterdam is greater than in the other municipalities.

Welfare dependency rate per municipality corrected for household type, 31 March 2003

Henk Amptmeijer

Source: StatLine (Dutch only)