Dutch population approaching 18 million mark; Growth lower than last year

The Dutch population is approaching 18 million residents, but population growth has decreased considerably compared to last year. In the first three quarters of this year, far fewer refugees from Ukraine fled to the Netherlands, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. Fewer babies were born than people died, and more people emigrated from the Netherlands to elsewhere.

According to the statistics office, our country now has 17.9 million inhabitants. According to provisional figures, that is 110,700 more than at the beginning of 2023. Viewed in the longer term, that is still significant growth. But in the same period last year, the population growth was over 80,000 people higher. That was mainly because many more Ukrainians fled the Russian war.

According to CBS, the fact that the number of births is lower than the number of deaths is “exceptional” for the first three quarters of a year. The Netherlands also had a negative birth balance for the whole of 2022, as demographers called it. That was the first time since measurements began in 1900.

Only about 123,400 children were born in the first three quarters of 2023. That was 3,400 more than in the same period last year. At approximately 124,300 deaths, the number was slightly higher than the number of births. These are trends that have been going on for some time. The number of births has been declining since 2010, while mortality has been relatively high since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Since the virus started circulating in the Netherlands, there have been extended periods of excess mortality. That means that the number of deaths is higher than would be expected based on previous years.