The Netherlands is a welfare state. The government offers everyone in society a guaranteed minimum income.
There have been laws created in case you become ill or lose your job. And when you become older, you will also receive an income. Even for the youngest there have also been provisions made: parents receive an allowance for their children. The government pays for all of this from tax revenues. Therefore, we all pay for the social provisions in the Netherlands.
In the video here below you are told about what else pertains to the welfare state:
Everyone who has children in the Netherlands receives a children’s allowance. It does not matter how high your income is. Over the years sometimes things change slightly in the laws and regulations surrounding the children’s allowance. But the government wants to continue to help pay for the costs of raising a child.
As parents you will receive a children’s allowance as a contribution for clothing and feeding your children. If you want to save this money, then you could save it for the future of your child. You could, for example, save it to pay for their education.
In this funny short video, you can see how the average Dutch person views the children’s allowance:
If in the Netherlands you end up without a job, you can receive unemployment benefits. There are certain rules pertaining to this: if you quit your job with a company or organization for example you will not receive any unemployment benefits. The government expects you to make the effort to then quickly find another job.
You receive the unemployment benefits from the UWV organization. They will help you in finding a job by offering you courses, for example about how to apply for a job. They also send you job vacancies that meet your educational level and work experience.
When will you receive unemployment benefits? You will learn about that in this video:
A benefit is a supplement to your income. You can receive a benefit for your rent, your healthcare and for the care of your children. There is also a child-bound budget which is a benefit from the government.
Whether you will be able to receive benefits from the government will depend on your income. If you earn more than a set amount, you will receive a lower or no benefit than if you had a lower income. On the website from the tax service you can make a calculation of how many benefits you can receive.
Healthcare Benefit
In the Netherlands you must have health insurance. The costs for this can sometimes be so high, that the government will offer you a compensation: the Healthcare benefit. Whether or not you can receive any healthcare benefits will depend on your income. On the website of the tax service you can read more about the conditions.
Why is health insurance mandatory in the Netherlands?
In the Netherlands you no longer have to work after the age of 67. After that age you will receive your pension, a monthly income. The amount of your pension will depend on how much you earned during your working life. In the Netherlands you can stop working before the age of 67, but then you will have to partially supplement the loss of an income on your own.