In October 2024, CBS presented new poverty figures. Over the past five years, the number of people living in poverty has halved in the Netherlands. Currently, the latest CBS figures indicate about 540,000 people living in poverty. However, a new calculation method has been introduced, developed in collaboration with the National Institute for Budget Information (Nibud) and the Social and Cultural Planning Office (SCP). This slightly changes the perspective, offering more clarity for better debates on poverty. We asked Tim ’S Jongers, a political scientist and author, for his views on this new method.
A Good Step Forward
Yes, says ’S Jongers. This new calculation method is a good step forward, especially because it provides a unified and well-founded figure. This is a significant improvement over the previous situation where various measurement methods yielded different poverty figures. With this new joint approach, CBS, SCP, and Nibud provide more clarity.