56 percent of wealth in the hands of 10 percent of households

© ANP / Maikel Samuels
All the households in the Netherlands combined had over €2.6 trillion in assets at the start of 2023. The wealthiest 10 percent of households had 56 percent of that wealth, and the top 0.1 percent of households had 10 percent of it. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of new figures.

The share of total wealth held by the wealthiest 10 percent (or decile) has declined every year since 2015 - from 70 percent in 2015 to 56 percent in 2022. In 2023, there was almost no change with respect to the previous year. The share of wealth in the hands of the top 1 percent was 32 percent in 2015 and 23 percent in 2022 and 2023. Meanwhile, the share of wealth in the hands of the wealthiest 0.1 percent was 13 percent in 2015 and 10 percent in 2022 and 2023. This means that, collectively, the 82 thousand wealthiest households held around €260 billion in assets in 2023.

Share of wealth held by wealthiest households, 1 January
JaarTop 10% of households (% of total wealth)Top 1% of households (% of total wealth)Top 0,1% of households (% of total wealth)
201162.425.610.1
201265.227.210.7
201371.031.813.0
201470.931.913.6
201569.831.813.0
201668.430.812.9
201766.930.413.1
201865.129.312.4
201962.927.811.4
202061.927.611.4
202158.224.59.7
202255.423.610.0
2023*55.723.79.9
* provisional figures

Unequal distribution of wealth

In early 2023, the wealthiest 10 percent of households had a combined wealth of nearly €1.5 trillion. That represents 56 percent of the total wealth of all households in the Netherlands. The remaining 90 percent of households shared the rest between them: almost €1.2 trillion. Some of those households also had negative wealth; the combined debts of the decile with the least wealth exceeded their combined assets. Overall, then, this group had negative wealth of €38 billion euros. The next two deciles both had assets worth around zero, on balance.

Nearly six in 10 households owned their own home in 2023. For the majority of households, that was their most significant asset. But wealthier households often have other assets as well. Among the wealthiest decile of households, 30 percent of their wealth was in the form of significant business interests. Among the richest 1 percent, the share was 54 percent.

Assets and debts by wealth decile, 1 January 2023*
VermogensgroepOwn home (bn euro)Significant business interests (bn euro)Business assets (bn euro)Other assets (bn euro)Mortgage debt (bn euro)Other debts (bn euro)
Decile 1
(lowest wealth)
35.71.3-0.914.5-55.7-32.6
Decile 21.50.00.01.4-1.5-1.0
Decile 34.60.00.25.8-4.5-1.5
Decile 423.80.20.920.7-21.7-3.3
Decile 5149.80.92.335.1-108.3-7.7
Decile 6254.71.42.736.0-142.4-8.4
Decile 7302.42.23.946.4-128.5-9.3
Decile 8348.34.25.865.5-108.2-11.3
Decile 9420.511.311.3112.1-96.9-16.7
Decile 10
(highest wealth)
600.3501.971.0523.4-122.7-106.7
* Provisional figures

The most wealthy are more likely to be retired

The least wealthy decile with negative net wealth consists mainly of working families (69 percent), but also includes a relatively high number of self-employed persons (10 percent). Benefit recipients are overrepresented in the second and third least wealthy deciles. Between the second least wealthy and the sixth least wealthy deciles, the share of employed persons increases, from 47 to over 70 percent. After that, the share of employed persons decreases, and the share of retirees and self-employed persons increases.

Among the wealthiest decile, 27 percent are self-employed while the rest are employed persons (33 percent) or retired (including income from assets) (40 percent). The average wealth of a person in this decile was at least €680 thousand in 2023. Self-employed persons have the most wealth in this group, with average assets of over €1.3 million. In the top 1 percent, around half are self-employed and one-third are retired.

Wealth deciles by main sources of household income, 1 Januari 2023*
VermogensgroepIncome from work (employee) (%)Income from work (self-employment) (%)Pension (%)Other benefits payments (%)Student debt (%)
Decile 1
(lowest wealth)
70.19.94.513.22.3
Decile 246.93.515.832.71.0
Decile 345.84.828.919.90.7
Decile 448.47.137.66.40.6
Decile 566.88.720.73.70.1
Decile 670.58.317.93.30.0
Decile 760.38.728.22.90.0
Decile 850.39.637.72.50.0
Decile 944.112.541.42.10.0
Decile 10
(highest wealth)
32.827.138.71.40.0
* Provisional figures