More Dutch households live in long-term poverty

The number of Dutch households living in long-term poverty increased by 27,000 to 221,000, or 3.3 percent of all households in 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Dutch national statistics bureau CBS announced on Wednesday.

The low-income threshold for a couple with two children is 1,930 euros (2,063 U.S. dollars). If the situation lasts more than four years, the households are considered "living in long-term poverty."

In 2015, 626,000 or 8.8 percent of the seven million Dutch households were below the low-income threshold.

Single parent households with children under age 18 were mostly at risk of living in poverty, according to the CBS report. In fact, one fourth of them were living in poverty and one out of twelve lived in long-term poverty.

In the Netherlands, a single person whose income stays below 1,030 euros per month is considered "living in poverty."

As for the total number of people living in long-term poverty, CBS reported a 14-percent increase to 417,000 in 2015. The number of people living in poverty stayed stable at 1.2 million.

In 2015, over 320,000 Dutch children were growing up in poverty and 125,000 of them in long-term poverty, said CBS.

The Dutch national statistics bureau also pointed out that especially people in their fifties were struggling to get out of long-term poverty. Endit