Some 56% of Dutch household assets are in the hands of the top 10%, while the top 0.1% control 10% of the total, according to new calculations by national statistics agency CBS, based on figures from 2023.

In total, Dutch households had €2.6 trillion in assets at the start of 2023, of which €260 billion was in the hands of the richest 0.1%.

However, despite the wide disparity in assets, the richest people in the Netherlands now control less of the actual wealth, the CBS figures show. In 2015, the top 10% owned 70% of household assets but this had gone down gradually until 2023, when it stopped at 56%.

CBS statistics chief Piet Hein van Mulligen said rising house prices had helped the spread of assets because, for nine in 10 people, their home is their biggest source of wealth. As house prices rise, so do their assets.

“But that is less relevant for the richest 10%,” he said. “Their companies are often their biggest asset, not their home, although those are larger than the average.”

House prices stagnated in 2023 but have been rising since then, and Van Mulligen expects a further shift in the spread of assets in 2024.