Today marks a milestone for the Dutch population as Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has predicted that on Thursday, August 15, the number of people living in the Netherlands will exceed 18 million. According to CBS, the population growth is mainly down to immigration. 

Dutch population increased quickly

From 2016 to 2024, the population in the Netherlands grew by an average of 120 thousand people per year, bringing the total from 17 million to 18 million residents. By comparison, the growth from 16 million to 17 million took 15 years - almost double the amount of time.

Since 2015, most of the country’s population growth has been because of foreign migration, reported CBS. The past few years have seen more deaths than births, which means that people moving to the Netherlands from abroad are the main reason the Dutch population increased. 

16 percent of Dutch residents not born in the Netherlands

The number of residents who were not born in the Netherlands increased from 2,1 million to 2,9 million in the last eight years, and now make up 16 percent of the population. At the same time, the number of citizens born in the Netherlands to at least one parent from another country also increased by around 300.000. 

Most Dutch residents born elsewhere came from another European country. There were also a large number of immigrants from Asia, not including Indonesia and Turkey. 

According to a CBS spokesperson, it is more likely that the 18 millionth resident of the Netherlands will be an immigrant rather than a newborn child as the increase in immigration is greater than that of births.

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