Immigration still driving force behind Dutch population growth

Immigration is still the driving force behind the growth of the Dutch population. In the first three quarters of this year, the Dutch population grew by 81 thousand people, according to preliminary figures by Statistics Netherlands. Nearly 70 thousand of that growth was thanks to immigration. The rest was natural accrual - 11 thousand more babies were born than people died.

A total of 186 thousand people moved to the Netherlands from abroad in the first three quarters of this year. That is 2.5 percent more than the same period last year. A total of 116,500 people moved away from the Netherlands in this period, an increase of 1.3 percent.

The migration balance therefore amounts to 69,400 people, 3 thousand more than in the same period last year.

This year too the majority of immigrants came from other European countries. The number of European, American and African immigrants increased, while the number of Asian and Syrian immigrants decreased.