How fast is our population growing?
Since 2010, the Dutch population has grown by an average of almost 0.6 percent a year. In 2024, a new milestone was reached when the population surpassed 18 million. A little more than eight years ago, the population of the Netherlands reached 17 million. It took a relatively long time – 15 years – to go from 16 million to 17 million inhabitants. The population of the Netherlands is growing as people move to the Netherlands from abroad and as we live for longer. We are expected to pass the 19 million mark in 2037.
In recent years, the population grew mainly due to immigration (people moving to the Netherlands from abroad), with a peak in 2022 due to the arrival of refugees from Ukraine. In 2020, there was a drop in immigration because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the difference between the number of immigrants and emigrants (people who moved abroad) was smaller.
In the past two years, the annual number of deaths was higher than the annual number of births for the first time.
| Jaar | Population growth | The number of live births minus the number of deaths | Net migration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 12.3 | 66.1 | 53.9 |
| 2001 | 11.8 | 62.2 | 50.8 |
| 2002 | 87.3 | 59.7 | 24.3 |
| 2003 | 65.5 | 58.4 | -0.3 |
| 2004 | 47.5 | 57.5 | -16.2 |
| 2005 | 28.7 | 51.5 | -27.4 |
| 2006 | 23.8 | 49.7 | -31.3 |
| 2007 | 47.4 | 48.3 | -5.8 |
| 2008 | 80.4 | 49.5 | 25.7 |
| 2009 | 89.2 | 50.7 | 34.5 |
| 2010 | 80.8 | 48.3 | 33.1 |
| 2011 | 74.6 | 44.3 | 29.8 |
| 2012 | 49.2 | 35.2 | 13.9 |
| 2013 | 49.7 | 30.1 | 19.1 |
| 2014 | 71.4 | 36.0 | 35.1 |
| 2015 | 78.4 | 23.4 | 55.1 |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 23.5 | 79.2 |
| 2017 | 99.6 | 19.6 | 80.7 |
| 2018 | 101.1 | 15.2 | 86.4 |
| 2019 | 125.4 | 17.8 | 108.0 |
| 2020 | 67.8 | 0.0 | 68.4 |
| 2021 | 115.3 | 8.5 | 107.2 |
| 2022 | 220.6 | -2.6 | 223.8 |
| 2023 | 132.4 | -5.0 | 137.4 |
How much does the population grow in one day, on average?
On an average day in 2023, about 451 children were born and 464 people died. Meanwhile, an average of 920 immigrants entered the Netherlands and 543 people moved abroad. On balance, the population of the Netherlands grew by an average of 361 people per day.
Who is the Netherlands’ 18‑millionth resident?
The identity of the 18‑millionth resident of the Netherlands is unknown. It could be a new baby, a refugee from Ukraine or Syria, a worker from Poland, a student from China or a Dutch citizen who came back home after living abroad for a while. But the person in question is more likely to be an immigrant than a new-born baby: in 2023, nearly 336 thousand immigrants registered with a municipality and over 164 thousand children were born. New immigrants also outnumbered new babies in early 2024.
The 18‑millionth resident is most likely to be an immigrant of Ukrainian, Polish, Syrian or Dutch origin. However, if it was a new-born baby, the mother is likely to be of Dutch origin, which was the case for two-thirds of babies born in 2023.
The 18‑millionth resident is slightly more likely to be a man or a boy than a woman or a girl. In recent years, 51 percent of immigrants were male and 51 percent of babies were boys.
| Ontwikkeling | Number |
|---|---|
| Total | 374 |
| New-born babies | 449 |
| Mortality | -464 |
| Immigration | 912 |
| Emigration | -523 |
| * provisional figures | |
Sources
StatLine – Population dynamics; month and year
StatLine – Population, households and population dynamics; from 1899
StatLine – Geboorte; vruchtbaarheid, herkomstland en geboorteland moeder (only available in Dutch)
StatLine – Immi- en emigratie; leeftijd (31 dec.), burgerlijke staat, geboorteland (only available in Dutch)
Relevant links
Visualisation – Timeline: 125 years of population censuses
News release – Forecast: nearly 18 million inhabitants, 19 million projected in 2037
News release – Nearly 17 million inhabitants