Dutch population still growing only through immigration, but that is also slowing down

The Dutch population is still growing only due to immigration, but even that is slowing down. Population growth in the Netherlands has been declining since 2022, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Friday.

The population grew by over 62,000 residents during the first three quarters of 2026, down from over 78,000 in the same period last year. At the end of September, the Netherlands counted 18.19 million residents.

“Population growth during the first three quarters of 2026 was at its lowest level since 2020,” CBS said. In that year, the coronavirus pandemic brought immigration to a near halt, and the Dutch population only grew by 58,000 people in the first three quarters.

In the third quarter of 2026, around 100,000 people moved to the Netherlands, slightly down from the 103,000 people in the same quarter last year. From January through September 2026, a total of 226,000 settled in the Netherlands, while 160,000 emigrated. The Dutch population therefore grew by 66,000 residents through migration, 15,000 fewer than in the same period in 2026.

There was a particular decrease in the number of Syrian refugees registering with Dutch municipalities this year. In the first nine months of this year, 14,000 Syrians registered with a Dutch municipality, compared to over 21,000 in the same period last year. Nearly 2,000 Syrians also emigrated, bringing the balance to nearly 12,000 new Syrian residents of the Netherlands.

CBS only counts asylum seekers as a resident once their application is approved, they’re granted refugee status and a residency permit, and they register with a Dutch municipality. According to CBS, the decrease in Syrian refugees is partly because they no longer automatically receive refugee status “as the security situation in Syria is now considered less severe.”

In the first nine months of the year, there was also a net increase of nearly 10,000 Ukrainian refugees, roughly the same as in 2025. “After Syrians, Ukrainians continue to be the largest group of immigrants,” CBS said.

For three years now, the “natural population growth” in the Netherlands has been negative, meaning that more people died than babies were born. In the first nine months of this year, 131,000 people died, 1,400 more than in the same period in 2025. There were 127,000 births, 900 more than a year earlier. The natural population growth therefore amounted to nearly -4,000.