According to the latest data from the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS), 30% of the Dutch population aged 15 or older expect their household's financial situation to deteriorate in the coming year.
The study, which includes data from the first quarter of 2022, indicates a strong increase in pessimism compared to the beginning of 2021, when 16% of those surveyed expected a deterioration in their financial position.
Pessimism In The Netherlands
General pessimism in the Netherlands has fluctuated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to CBS data, more people started to expect a deterioration in their financial situation from the fourth quarter of 2021.
That increase coincided with strict lockdown measures, nearly two years since the beginning of the pandemic.
Further back, in the second quarter of 2020 when the virus had just broken out, the share of the population that was pessimistic about their future financial situation rose sharply.
After that, pessimism abated until mid-2021 and more and more people assumed their financial situation would improve.
Read More: Dutch Consumer Mood ‘Deteriorated In March’, CBS Notes
Tenants Most Concerned With Financial Situation - CBS
Among people who live in rented accommodation and receive housing benefit, 36% expected the financial situation of their household to deteriorate in early 2022.
For homeowners this figure was 29%, while 33% of tenants without housing benefit believed in the same.
Compared to early 2021, both homeowners and tenants have become more pessimistic about the financial situation of the household, the study noted.
In 2021, 7% of households said that they had difficulties with their income.
Reliance On Savings
CBS also reported that people are relying more on their savings, with 10% indicating that they had to draw on savings during the first quarter of 2022, compared to 7% in the previous year.
At the same time, fewer people said they had money left, with 60% in the first quarter of 2022 against 64% in early 2021.
In addition, homeowners were slightly less likely to have money left than in 2021 (74% compared with 71% in 2022).
Among tenants without housing benefit, the financial situation in 2022 was comparable to that of a year earlier, the study showed.
