Population; households and population dynamics; from 1899

Population; households and population dynamics; from 1899

Periods Population on 1 January Population by marital status Widowed (x 1,000)
2023 863
Source: CBS.
Explanation of symbols

Dataset is not available.


The most important key figures about population, households, population growth, births, deaths, migration, marriages, marriage dissolutions and change of nationality of the Dutch population.

CBS is in transition towards a new classification of the population by origin. Greater emphasis is now placed on where a person was born, aside from where that person’s parents were born. The term ‘migration background’ is no longer used in this regard. The main categories western/non-western are being replaced by categories based on continents and a few countries that share a specific migration history with the Netherlands. The new classification is being implemented gradually in tables and publications on population by origin.

Data available from: 1899

Status of the figures:
All data in this publication are final data.

Changes as of 15 December 2023:
None, this is a new table. This table succeeds the table Population; households and population dynamics; 1899-2019. See section 3.
The following changes have been made:
- The underlying topic folders regarding 'migration background' have been replaced by 'Born in the Netherlands' and 'Born abroad';
- The origin countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Turkey have been assigned to the continent of Asia (previously Europe).

When will the new figures be published?
The figures for the population development in 2023 and the population on 1 January 2024 will be published in the second quarter of 2024.

Description topics

Population on 1 January
Population:
The total number of people residing in a given area.
In the population statistics compiled by Statistics Netherlands the inhabitants of a given area are the people registered in the population register, whose address is located in that area.
Population by marital status
Data concerning the years 1900, 1910, 1921 and 1931 are based on the results of the censuses held on 31 December 1899, 1909, 1921 and 1930.

Break in series marital status
From 2010 onwards a small shift has occurred between a number of marital statuses (fewer never married and more divorced and widowed respectively). Because information on some marital statuses was lacking for the period 1998 to 2010 in data used by Statistics Netherlands, 'divorced after partnership' and 'widowed after partnership' were not included in these statistics for this period. For these statistics, the marital status before the partnership was used instead, which was mostly 'never married'. From 2010 all marital statuses are available.

Marital status:
Legal status involving someone's rights and competences as determined by legal marriage and registered partnership.

Marriage:
Legal, formally sanctioned living arrangement between two people. Since 1 April 2001, it is legally possible for people in the Netherlands to marry a person of the same sex.

Registered partnership:
A marriage-like relationship between two people of the opposite or same sex, registered at the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Registered partnership was introduced in The Netherlands on 1 January 1998.
Widowed
From 2010: widowed after a legal marriage and widowed after a partnership.
Until 2010: widowed after a legal marriage.
Because information was lacking on some marital statuses in the period 1998 to 2010 in data used by Statistics Netherlands, widowed after a partnership is not included in this period in these statistics.

Widowed after a legal marriage:
Marital status resulting from death ending a legal marriage.

Widowed after a partnership:
Marital status resulting from death ending a registered partnership.