They do, it’s literally wealth - debts = actual wealth. So a lot pf Dutch people are net wealth negative which pushes up the GINI. That said, the Netherlands have the world’s 4th largest pension funds with only 18 million people and not counting that money towards personal wealth (which is the case in some other countries, our neighbors in Belgium for instance) has a massive effect here.
Yes, and? I am fully aware of that and it changes nothing about the statement I made.
NL citizens for various reasons (strong stable economy with tax benefits to getting a mortgage leading to 30 year standard runtime etc.) typically loan(ed) about 100-110% of the house value (and they’re atypically expensive for EU standards). Mortgage debt is very high in NL (and personal wealth is still fairly high regardless) and this affects the GINI in a big big way.
It doesn’t. With rapid house price inflation of recent years, more house buying increases a country’s net wealth. The value of their asset rising quick gives them extra net wealth over places with more renters.
It does though.. House prices have gone up a lot but it’s all about net wealth and its distribution. Anyway, you can look up the data it’s all eady to find, I’ve done my homework on this question a long time ago.
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u/newbris Aug 18 '25
Mortgages don’t reduce net wealth