04 January 2024 at 00:00
The Dutch population grew less rapidly last year than in 2022. The number of people increased in all provinces, but the population grew the most in Flevoland and university cities. In small towns and municipalities the number of inhabitants has even decreased.
Statistics Netherlands estimates that the Dutch population will grow to 17.9 million in 2023. The 18 million mark will be reached in 2024, CBS predicts.
In 2023, the Netherlands will add 140,000 inhabitants. That’s far fewer than the 221,000 added in 2022.
In the Netherlands, in 2023, more people died than were born. An estimated 165,000 babies were born, about 3,000 fewer than in 2022. With 169,000 deaths, the mortality rate remained about the same as the previous year. According to the Dutch Statistical Office, population growth in 2023 will therefore be entirely due to migration from abroad.
Yet fewer immigrants arrived in the Netherlands in 2023 than in the previous year. This is mainly due to the fact that fewer Ukrainians have fled to our country. Net migration (the number of people who arrived in the Netherlands minus the number of people who left) amounts to 138,000. This is 79,000 fewer than in 2022.
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Growth in all provinces, but less than last year
The population increased in all Länder, but everywhere to a lesser extent than in 2022. As in previous years, the strongest population growth occurred in Flevoland. In 2023, 13,000 Flevolanders arrived. In 2022 there were still 22,000.
The growth was due to the fact that there were more births than deaths in Flevoland and because more people moved from other provinces to Flevoland than vice versa. Even more people have arrived in Flevoland from abroad than have emigrated.
In the provinces of Overijssel, Drenthe, Friesland and Zeeland, more people died than children were born. The fact that the population has increased is due to the fact that more people have moved to the provinces than have left.
Universities attract residents, small municipalities become empty
At the urban level, cities with universities in particular have seen strong growth, partly due to the influx of students. Groningen gained 25,000 new residents, Nijmegen 24,000, Amsterdam 19,000 and Utrecht 18,000. Delft, Leiden and Maastricht also experienced above-average population growth. Wageningen has even gained proportionately the largest number of inhabitants of all Dutch municipalities.
Of the ten largest municipalities, only The Hague recorded growth below the national average. The Hague is the only one of the ten largest municipalities not to have its own university.
In the province of Groningen the opposite occurred compared to the city of Groningen. The number of inhabitants has decreased, especially in small towns. The number of inhabitants also decreased relatively sharply in South Limburg, Achterhoek, Twente and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. This is mainly due to the aging population. Only in the western part of the Netherlands did the number of births on average exceed the number of deaths.
2024-01-03 23:00:00
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