More households with income over 50,000 euros

© Nikki van Toorn (CBS)
In 2017, over half a million households - 6.7 percent of the 7.7 million households in the Netherlands - had a standardised income exceeding 50,000 euros. This is 120 thousand more than in 2013, when nearly 400 thousand households or 5.3 percent had this level of income. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this in connection with the publication of an updated visualisation “Income distribution”.

Of all households with a standardised income exceeding 50,000 euros in 2017, there were 55 thousand who had assets worth more than 100,000 euros. This number was up on 2013 as well, namely by 12 thousand households. Due to more favourable conditions in 2014 for tax-exempt income from substantial interests such as shares, the number of households with income exceeding 100,000 euros peaked at 67 thousand in that year.

The standardised income is the disposable income (the net amount a household can spend on an annual basis), adjusted for any differences in household size and composition. All incomes are reduced to the income of a single-person household. In this way, the prosperity levels of households have been made comparable. The more members there are in a household, the higher the correction factors. For example, a couple with a disposable income of 68,500 euros has 50,000 euros after standardisation, while a single-person’s income of 50,000 euros remains the same after standardisation.

Standardised income, number of households, price level 2017
  50,000 to <75,000 euros (x 1,000) 75,000 to <100,000 euros (x 1,000)100,000 to <200,000 euros (x 1,000)200,000 euros and more (x 1,000)
2011 332 60 36 9
2012 310 58 35 9
2013 300 55 33 8
2014 312 62 47 20
2015 337 61 35 8
2016 389 69 41 10
2017* 391 69 43 12
* provisional figures

Self-employed most likely to earn high income

In 2017, 20 percent of the households including a self-employed person had an income exceeding 50,000 euros, as against 7 percent of households including an employee. Incomes exceeding 50,000 euros are rare (0.2 percent) among households with benefit recipients. At over 4 percent, this level is more prevalent among retired households.


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