According to a report by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) based on asset figures from 2007 to 2015, the number of millionaire households in the Netherlands rose by 500 to 106.000 in 2015. The report did not look at the value of the millionaire’s residence or whether they had taken out a mortgage.

Self-employed millionaires

Of the 106.000 millionaire households, two-thirds reported employment as their main source of income. The majority of millionaires work in the agricultural industry, financial services, trade, specialised business services, or in the care industry.

About 80 percent of millionaires are entrepreneurs in one way or another, with half taking the title of managing director or major shareholder and a third being self-employed.

Coming in first with the highest percentage, 19 percent of millionaire breadwinners work in the agricultural industry, half of which are active in dairy farming businesses. Many people in this industry are self-employed, and often their money is tied up in their business, for example, in land and equipment.

Financial services came second as the industry in which the most millionaires work.

Substantial shares

Millionaires and non-millionaires differ extremely when it comes to shares in companies. Due to the great number of entrepreneurs amongst millionaires, 40 percent of the assets of all millionaires are in shares, as opposed to 13 percent, which they hold in bank accounts.

This trend is the other way around with non-millionaires, who have 12 percent of their assets in shares and around 50 percent in bank accounts.

Combined, the millionaires in the Netherlands have assets of 309 billion euros; this is around 2.9 million euros per household, and as equity increases, so does the number of shares held.

Popular municipalities amongst millionaires

In 2015, there were 94 Dutch municipalities with 2,5 percent or more residents who had millionaire status. However, in 5 municipalities, 6 percent or more of the residents were millionaires. The greatest number of millionaires lived in Laren, followed by Bloemendaal, Blaricum, Wassenaar and Rozendaal.

Millionaires are often married, with 71 percent having tied the knot compared to 45 percent of non-millionaires. Few, 7 percent, had also gone through a divorce, as opposed to 14 percent of non-millionaires.