Dutch households had savings totalling €328bn at the end of January this year, up €4.8bn on a year ago and the highest level recorded since records began in 1991, the national statistics office CBS said.

The Dutch have boosted their savings by €78bn since the start of the economic crisis, the CBS said.

However, there is a clear split between households with lots of savings and those with very little or none, according to family spending institute Nibud.

Last November Nibud said half of the Netherlands’ households have savings of at least €17,000, compared with €8,000 in 2006. At the same time, 40% of households have less than €2,000 in their banks, Nibud said.