Population growth slows due to lower immigration
- The population of the Netherlands grew by nearly 10 thousand in Q1 2026.
- Population growth was lower than in recent years due to lower immigration.
- Number of births and deaths has remained virtually unchanged.
The population of the Netherlands grew by nearly 10 thousand in the first quarter of 2026. The increase was more than double that in Q1 2025. The increase in the population in Q1 was entirely due to migration, as there were more deaths than births in the Netherlands. At the end of March, the Netherlands had a population of 18.14 million. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) based on provisional figures.
Population growth in the Netherlands in Q1 2026 was the lowest since 2015, when the population grew by around 9 thousand people. Between 2016 and 2025, the population increased by an average of 22 thousand in the first quarter. More migrants arrived in the Netherlands in those years. 2022 was an outlier with an increase of 51 thousand in Q1, mainly due to the arrival of refugees from Ukraine.
| Jaar | Change in population (x 1,000) |
|---|---|
| 2002 | 18.8 |
| 2003 | 13.5 |
| 2004 | 4.7 |
| 2005 | 2.0 |
| 2006 | -0.1 |
| 2007 | 7.1 |
| 2008 | 12.7 |
| 2009 | 15.9 |
| 2010 | 14.0 |
| 2011 | 18.1 |
| 2012 | 7.3 |
| 2013 | 5.4 |
| 2014 | 15.7 |
| 2015 | 9.2 |
| 2016 | 18.8 |
| 2017 | 17.3 |
| 2018 | 12.0 |
| 2019 | 23.5 |
| 2020 | 16.7 |
| 2021 | 13.3 |
| 2022 | 50.6 |
| 2023 | 26.7 |
| 2024 | 19.7 |
| 2025* | 20.7 |
| 2026* | 9.6 |
| * provisional figures | |
Immigration lower, emigration unchanged
The slower population growth is a result of lower immigration compared to last year. In Q1 2026, 66 thousand immigrants arrived in the Netherlands, compared with 79 thousand in the same period of 2025. Emigration remained the same: in both years, over 48 thousand people left the Netherland to live abroad.
Net migration was therefore 18 thousand, down by 13 thousand compared to Q1 2025. Immigration is lower than it was in Q1 of the four preceding years, although it remained slightly higher than it was in 2019, the year before the coronavirus pandemic.
| Jaar | Net migration (x 1,000) | Immigration (x 1,000) | Emigration (x 1,000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 24.2 | 61.4 | 37.2 |
| 2020 | 19.4 | 59.5 | 40.2 |
| 2021 | 16.0 | 48.5 | 32.5 |
| 2022 | 53.3 | 89.2 | 35.9 |
| 2023 | 34.2 | 81.2 | 47.0 |
| 2024 | 26.8 | 75.5 | 48.7 |
| 2025* | 30.6 | 79.1 | 48.5 |
| 2026* | 17.8 | 66.3 | 48.4 |
| * provisional figures | |||
Fewer migrants from Syria
Fewer Syrian migrants arrived in the Netherlands. In Q1 2026, 4,600 Syrians registered as resident with a local authority in the Netherlands, compared with 9,500 a year earlier. These are mainly people who have been granted asylum. Asylum seekers are counted as immigrants as soon as they register with a local authority in the Netherlands. Since 500 Syrians also left the Netherlands, the net increase was just over 4 thousand. The number of migrants arriving from Iraq, Iran and Somalia – countries from which asylum seekers predominantly originate – was also down compared to 2025.
The number of migrants from China and Poland also fell, and emigration was higher than immigration among people of Chinese and Polish origin. In previous years, the situation was the reverse.
Meanwhile, the number of migrants from Romania was higher than it was in 2025. In Q1 2026, net migration from Romania was 900. Net migration among EU citizens (excluding those from the Netherlands itself) remained virtually unchanged: nearly 3 thousand more people arrived than left. Net migration among Ukrainians rose again for the first time since 2022, by over 3 thousand. Immigration from Ukraine remained at around the same level, but fewer Ukrainians left the Netherlands.
| Herkomst | 2026* (x 1 000) | 2025* (x 1 000) | 2024 (x 1 000) | 2023 (x 1 000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Syria | 4.09 | 9.17 | 5.75 | 3.91 |
| Ukraine | 3.29 | 2.71 | 3.54 | 4.05 |
| Türkiye | 1.78 | 3.10 | 2.31 | 2.88 |
| Eritrea | 0.99 | 0.95 | 0.37 | 0.49 |
| Romania | 0.93 | 0.64 | 1.01 | 0.85 |
| US | 0.67 | 0.66 | 0.61 | 0.83 |
| Suriname | 0.55 | 0.89 | 0.68 | 0.45 |
| India | 0.51 | 0.60 | 0.82 | 2.07 |
| Somalia | 0.51 | 0.79 | 0.43 | 0.26 |
| Italy | 0.49 | 0.49 | 0.53 | 0.85 |
| 1) Net migration, top ten countries of origin in 2025 * provisional figures | ||||
More people died than new babies were born
In Q1 2026, 40 thousand new babies were born and 48 thousand people died. One thousand more babies were born than in Q1 2025, while the number of deaths was around the same. The natural rate of population growth (the number of births minus the number of deaths) stood at -8.2 thousand in Q1. This compares with -9.8 thousand in Q1 2025.
Sources
- StatLine - Population dynamics; month and year
Related items
- Dashboard - Population dashboard