Majority of scientists remain in or come back to Netherlands after time abroad

The majority of scientists remain in the Netherlands or return after a period abroad, according to a new report from the Rathenau Institute. Between 2008 and 2023, only 14 percent of Dutch scientists left the country, and a quarter of those eventually returned.

Rathenau found no evidence that the Netherlands is losing top researchers while gaining less qualified scientists. “The quality of incoming and outgoing scientists appears balanced,” the report states.

The report, titled Honkvast, uit of homerun (Settled at Home, Away, or a Home Run) found that more scientists permanently relocate to the Netherlands than leave. Between 2008 and 2023, the net inflow of scientists was 11 percent, with the technical sciences sector seeing a net increase of 40 percent.

The United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom are key exchange destinations for Dutch researchers. Meanwhile, more scientists come to the Netherlands from emerging economies, including China, than leave for those countries.

The study was conducted at the request of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Researchers used publicly available address data provided in scientific publications, which were combined with profiles from the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University.

Data were analyzed from 2008 through 2023, and scientists were included if they published at least once in 2023, indicating ongoing activity. The final analysis included 62,000 scientists. Each scientist had to have published from a Dutch institution for at least one full year during the 15-year period to exclude short visits.