About 200,000 children in the Netherlands live in poverty; and thousands of them cannot afford to buy glasses.
Child poverty remains a significant issue in the Netherlands, affecting around 200,000 children. Last year, the 'Leergeld' foundation, a charity dedicated to helping needy families by providing school supplies, supported this number of children. A recent study commissioned by the Ministry of Public Health revealed that thousands of children need prescription glasses, but their families cannot afford them.
Alexandra Bartelies, director of the "Stichting Leergeld" foundation, expressed her shock at the latest figures, noting that the foundation has helped 7 percent more children than the previous year. She highlighted a worrying trend of increasing requests for assistance from working parents, pointing out that the rising costs of housing, energy, and healthcare exceed income increases.
According to statistics from the Netherlands (CBS), there has been an increase in the number of workers living below the poverty line, with recent figures showing that there are 175,000 Dutch people working in poverty in 2024, an increase of more than 25,000 from the previous year.
A study conducted by Amsterdam UMC and Ipsos I&O, commissioned by the Ministry of Health, found that many children in the Netherlands need glasses but lack them due to financial constraints on their families. Researchers estimate that around 634,000 children need glasses due to nearsightedness or farsightedness, and this number is expected to rise with increased screen use. The study showed that 16 percent of parents face financial barriers when trying to obtain glasses for their children, often leading to delays in purchase, neglecting to replace broken glasses, or using less suitable and cheaper options. Although the study may not fully represent the Dutch population, it provides a realistic picture of the situation.
Researcher Roos van Nispen said: "Growing children need new glasses at least once a year, and parents spend an average of about 275 euros on that." She added: "We estimate that 64,000 children living below or near the poverty line need glasses, with thousands of them having no glasses at all."
The exact number of children living in poverty in the Netherlands is not entirely clear. According to the latest figures from Statistics Netherlands, there were 93,000 children living in families working below the poverty line in 2024. Many children also live near the poverty line. When adding these children to the poor families, the number reaches about 338,000 children living in families struggling or unable to meet their basic needs, according to a spokesperson for Nibud, the National Institute for Family Finance Information.
Organizations like "Stichting Leergeld" intervene to help as many children as possible, but the number of requests continues to rise. Bartelies said, "This cannot and should not continue." She calls for comprehensive national solutions, such as free access to resources like laptops and swimming lessons, as well as a simpler system for applying for assistance.
In September of last year, the Children's Ombudsman, Margriet Kalverboer, urged the national government to take decisive action. She said, "We can no longer settle for temporary solutions. We need a comprehensive policy on child poverty that provides structural support for families and prioritizes child development." Kalverboer added, "Only through a combination of long-term solutions and individual arrangements can we prevent thousands of children in the Netherlands from spending their childhood in a state of constant uncertainty."