From which countries do most immigrants come?

Some 403 thousand people arrived from other countries to live in the Netherlands in 2022. Just over a quarter of them came from Ukraine. In the previous year, 253 thousand immigrants arrived in the Netherlands. In that year Poles accounted for the largest group.

A lot more immigrants arrived in the Netherlands in 2022 than in the years before that. One of the main reasons was the large number of Ukrainians who came to live here. They left their country after the Russian invasion in February. But more people than in 2021 arrived from other countries, too. Turkey, Poland, and India for example. Poland has accounted for the largest numbers of immigrants in recent years. At around 28 thousand, they were a minority compared with the 108 thousand people from Ukraine in 2022. Turkey was in third place in 2022, with 20 thousand immigrants, followed by Germany with 17 thousand.

Show datatableTop countries of origin for immigrants in 2022 (excl. Ukraine) (x 1,000)Hide datatableTop countries of origin for immigrants in 2022 (excl. Ukraine) (x 1,000)

Top countries of origin for immigrants in 2022 (excl. Ukraine) (x 1,000)

Land	Poland	Germany	Turkey	Spain	Romania
2002	2.275	7.959	6.496	2.824	0.627
2003	2.106	7.921	6.945	2.794	0.703
2004	5.073	8.671	4.692	2.826	0.711
2005	6.672	9.134	3.559	2.885	0.559
2006	8.214	10.424	3.413	3.372	0.718
2007	10.126	10.981	3.049	3.902	2.347
2008	13.890	12.929	4.249	5.101	2.390
2009	13.027	12.818	4.441	5.883	2.155
2010	14.782	13.914	4.706	6.109	2.594
2011	18.937	13.851	4.254	6.631	2.721
2012	18.348	13.462	4.107	7.526	2.459
2013	20.277	12.806	4.269	7.941	2.450
2014	23.751	13.242	4.924	7.402	4.220
2015	22.851	13.970	7.409	7.188	3.990
2016	22.866	15.307	10.990	7.329	4.732
2017	23.521	16.432	11.837	8.217	6.804
2018	25.050	17.345	9.314	8.994	8.545
2019	26.787	18.257	10.838	10.417	10.383
2020	23.730	16.803	9.331	9.220	9.387
2021	24.560	17.613	13.849	11.432	11.338
2022	27.749	17.495	20.112	13.138	12.983

More immigrants than emigrants

Every year since 2008, more people have arrived from abroad to live in the Netherlands than vice versa. As a result the population is growing. However, not all immigrants stay for long. Some stay to study or work, and then leave the country again. A number of Ukrainians have also already left the Netherlands. Many immigrants from Poland also return to their native country after a period of time. They often come to the Netherlands on temporary job contracts.

Periods in which immigrant numbers rise are often followed by periods in which more people emigrate. Around two in ten people who leave the Netherlands to live elsewhere were born here.

Show datatableMoving to and from the Netherlands (x 1,000)Hide datatableMoving to and from the Netherlands (x 1,000)

Moving to and from the Netherlands (x 1,000)

Jaar	To the Netherlands (immigration)	From the Netherlands (emigration)
2002	121.3	96.9
2003	104.5	104.8
2004	94.0	110.2
2005	92.3	119.7
2006	101.2	132.5
2007	116.8	122.6
2008	143.5	117.8
2009	146.4	111.9
2010	154.4	121.4
2011	163.0	133.2
2012	158.4	144.5
2013	164.8	145.7
2014	182.9	147.9
2015	204.6	149.5
2016	230.7	151.5
2017	235.0	154.3
2018	243.7	157.4
2019	269.1	161.0
2020	220.9	152.5
2021	252.5	145.3
2022	401.4	173.5

Who counts as an immigrant?

Immigrants are people who register with a Dutch municipality because they intend to live in the Netherlands for at least four months. As asylum seekers are not allowed to register immediately on entering the Netherlands, they are not included in these figures. They can register when they have received a residence permit. Nearly 36 thousand people requested asylum in the Netherlands in 2022.

The questions

1. What keeps people from eating healthier?
2. What is working people’s income?
3. How much of the energy we consume is renewable?
4. What percentage wears glasses?
5. How are the dragonflies and butterflies doing?
6. How many housing units are there?
7. How does home burglary affect people?
8. In what occupations do most people work from home?
9. How much more expensive did food get?
10. How many babies were born to unmarried mothers?
11. From which countries do most immigrants come?
12. How many centenarians are there?
13. How do fathers and mothers divide work and care?
14. How many cars are there?
15. How much milk does a cow produce?
16. What portion of income went to food in 1936?
17. How many pigs were there in 1910?
18. How many cattle and pigs in the Netherlands?
19. What do we import from China?
20. What type of shop is seen less and less?
21. How many nights are spent in Dutch hotels?
22. How often do older people have contact with neighbours?
23. How many adults comply with the physical activity guidelines?
24. Where do international students in the Netherlands come from?
25. What are the major religions?
26. How many litres of water do we use per day?
27. How many millionaires in the Netherlands?
28. How many inhabitants in the Netherlands??
29. Where can we ride our bikes?
30. At what age do workers retire?
31. Which day has the most birthdays?
32. How many people have a student debt?
33. How does CBS handle your privacy?