Immigration drove significant population growth in Netherlands this year

The population of the Netherlands grew by 191,000 people in the first three quarters of 2022 to 17.8 million residents at the beginning of October. The population growth, which was over twice as high as in the same period last year, was mainly driven by immigration, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. Nearly a third of immigrants concerned people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Up to and including September, 317,900 immigrants settled in the Netherlands. Over 97,000 came to the Netherlands in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Emigration was also higher than a year earlier, with 129,400 people moving away from the Netherlands.

Foreign migration, therefore, added 188,500 people to the Dutch population. That is almost 2.5 times higher than the same period in 2021. Without the war in Ukraine, the migration balance would have been 102,500, over 22,000 more than in the same period last year.

The natural population growth - the number of births minus deaths - was low but positive in the first nine months of the year. In the first six months, the natural population growth was still negative.

Fewer children were born than the year before. Mortality was also relatively high, even higher than in the same period of 2020 and 2021 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Up to and including September, 2,500 more children were born than people died.