It’s official: 18 million people on this very small piece of land

According to Statistics Netherlands, the fact that growth is now faster is not only due to the wars in Ukraine and Syria, for example. “For better or worse economic situation, the enlargement of the European Union or policy choices such as the offer of English language studies in the Netherlands also play a role.”

There was a time when the population of the Netherlands grew faster than it is now: between 1945 and 1970, an average of 150,000 people were added each year, mainly due to births. In the recent period the increase was 120,000 people per year, but mainly due to migration.

The majority of new arrivals in the past eight years came from European and Asian countries, according to new CBS figures. In total numbers, most people came from Ukraine, Syria and Poland.

The largest group of residents in the Netherlands is Dutch source (72 percent), followed by groups of Turkish origin (2.5 percent) and Moroccan (2.4 percent). These top 3 groups have not changed since 2016.

It is expected that the number of residents in the Netherlands will continue to grow in the coming decades. This is mainly due to increased migration and because people are living longer than previous generations. This also makes the calculation uncertain: the number of migrants is particularly difficult to predict. According to the latest figures, there will be around 17.6 to 24 million inhabitants in the Netherlands in 2070.

What is certain: the population of the Netherlands is getting older. Eight years ago, the average age of the Dutch was 41.5 years, now it is 42.6 years. The number of people over 65 is increasing, and very few children are being born. Last year there were over 164,000. A woman in the Netherlands has an average of 1.43 children. That’s the lowest number since the 1980s.

The population of the Netherlands is not growing equally everywhere. Proportionately, the greatest growth is seen in towns around the cities. This is because people moved there, but also because more children were born there than people died. This applies to cities such as Blaricum, Waddinxveen, Rijswijk and Diemen. Of the main cities, Utrecht grew the most at 10.4 percent and Rotterdam the least at 6.4 percent.

There are also cities, especially on the edges of the country, where the number of inhabitants has fallen since 2016. This has happened, for example, in South Limburg, Groningen, the Achterhoek and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen . More people die there than children are born and more residents move from a city than come to live there. For example, the number of inhabitants of Simpelveld fell by 4.5 percent, of Eemsdelta by 4.3 percent and of Gulpen-Wittem by 3.1 percent.

Internationally, the Netherlands, with nearly 518 inhabitants per square kilometer, is the second most densely populated country in Europe. Number 3, Belgium, follows at a great distance with 384 inhabitants. Only Malta is significantly more densely populated, with almost 1,700 inhabitants per square kilometre. The European average is 109 inhabitants.