Dutch GDP set to fall as population gets older

The aging population of the Netherlands will result in the average growth of the Dutch economy falling to 1.1 percent between 2022 and 2025, central planning office CPB said in an estimate on Monday.

In the period 2022 to 2025, the population aged between 15 and 74 will decrease for the first time, the CPB expects. That will mean fewer and fewer new people entering the labor market, which will put economic growth under pressure. Purchasing power will also stop increasing in that period, according to the CPB.

The growth of employment opportunities in the market sector will be pressured by the declining growth in labor supply. The healthcare sector will have a strong demand for personnel, also pressuring the growth of employment in other sectors. The CPB expects that employment opportunities in the healthcare sector will grow by an average of 2.1 percent per year between 2022 and 2025.

The Dutch economy's growth will amount to an average of 1.8 percent per year between 2018 and 2021, according to CPB.