THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Long-term poverty is a much bigger problem than is often assumed. Nearly 600,000 Dutch find themselves three or more years in poverty, according to a new report by the Social and Cultural Planning Office (SCP). That’s almost twice as much as in previous censuses.
Once ,, poor often means permanently poor, ” the researchers note. They have spread looked over a longer period of people found themselves three years in a row below the poverty line. The number of poor in the Netherlands has existed for years for roughly half of people who are long-term poor.
In addition, the proportion of the population living in poverty has increased substantially since the beginning of the economic crisis. In 2007 it was less than 850,000 people. In 2013 this had risen to more than 1.25 million people.
The SCP puts the poverty threshold for a single person with a disposable income of just over 1,000 euros per month. For larger households, the limit is higher.
,, intervene quickly is crucial, ” says researcher Stella Court. The longer people are poor, the harder it according to her is to get out
The risk that pensioners are poor is small, but once they are poor, they have little opportunity to improve their incomes. Furthermore, non-Western migrants often struggle to get out of poverty, especially if they have minor children at home.
Of the people who do manage to overcome poverty is almost a fifth a year later, back in the old situation. After five years, 40 percent back to square one.
State Secretary Jetta Klijnsma (Social Affairs) said that the report ,, shows how strong the economic crisis has hit us in 2013 ‘ ‘. For low-income people is money released and modified its regulations. Thereby the purchasing power of workers rises with income around the minimum wage this year the most, namely 5.8 percent, said the State Secretary. In addition, an annual 100 million for poverty reduction and debt policy.
