Population growth in first half of 2025 similar to last year

© CBS
The population of the Netherlands grew by 36.9 thousand in the first half of 2025. That was 1.0 thousand less than last year. More people died than were born (natural decrease), meaning that the population grew solely as a result of migration. At the end of June, the Netherlands had a population of 18.08 million. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of provisional figures.

In the first half of 2025, 141.2 thousand people came to live in the Netherlands and 95.6 thousand left the country to live elsewhere. This means that the population grew by 45.6 thousand due to migration, an increase of nearly 1 thousand compared to last year. This increase is because immigration rose by 2.3 thousand, while emigration increased to a lesser extent (1.6 thousand).

A total of 80.9 thousand live births and 89.6 thousand deaths were recorded in the first six months of the year. The natural population change (the number of live births minus the number of deaths) was therefore negative – a decline of 8.6 thousand. In the same period last year, the natural population change was also negative – down by 6,900.

Fewer migrants from Europe

Net migration (the number of immigrants minus the number of emigrants) in the first half of 2025 was almost the same as in 2024, but changes were seen in terms of country of origin. There were fewer migrants from other EU countries in particular, which led to a fall in net migration from Europe for the third consecutive year. In the first half of 2025, this number was around 5 thousand lower than one year previously. There were fewer migrants from Poland and Bulgaria, in particular. Net migration from Poland declined from 4 thousand to almost zero over the course of two years. The number of refugees from Ukraine also fell. At the same time, there were more migrants from outside Europe, mainly from Asia.

In the first half of 2025, most migrants came from Syria (15.5 thousand), Ukraine (5.9 thousand), Türkiye (4.9 thousand), Iraq (1.7 thousand) and Suriname (1.6 thousand). The number of migrants arriving from India fell again: 1.0 thousand compared to 4.9 thousand in the first half of 2022.


Fewer births, more deaths

In the first half of 2025, nearly 700 fewer children were born relative to one year previously. In the same period, 1.0 thousand more people died, partly due to the ageing population. This led to a further decline in the natural population change: the number of deaths exceeded the number of live births by nearly 9 thousand compared to nearly 7 thousand in the previous year.

Sources

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