Expert urges more support for families as Dutch birth rate drops to lowest level ever

Women in the Netherlands have never before had so few children, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported last week. The Netherlands is facing a massive problem that it is not yet recognizing, demographer Jan Latten told AD. “We must support parents raising children much more,” he said, advocating for the establishment of a Ministry for Families and Emancipation.

“The children who are not being born now will not be around in 20 years, either as informal caregivers or at work,” said Latten, an Emeritus Professor of Demography.

According to him, the realization of the severity of this problem has not yet sunk in because the Netherlands is compensating for staff shortages by attracting people from other continents. “That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, provided it is done moderately. Provided that proper thought has been given to integration, to how cultural differences are bridged. But you can already see major tensions in society regarding immigrants we cannot house.”

CBS reported last week that families in 93 percent of municipalities had fewer children in 2024 than a decade earlier. The number of children per woman dropped from 1.71 to 1.43 between 2014 and 2024. That is too few to keep the country afloat. For that, every woman in the Netherlands would have to bring an average of 2.1 children into the world.

Latten believes it would be much better for the Netherlands if more children were born here. And to stimulate that, the government has to support families so that prospective parents don’t need to worry about whether they will be able to provide for their children or maintain their lifestyle.

“If children want to study, parents need to know that they do not have to save for it because this is well organized. That the government makes studying possible for everyone. We must offer guarantees that you are not ‘penalized’ for having children, but that everyone benefits from it. If only because someone will have to stand by your bed in the care home eventually to change the sheets,” Latten said

According to the professor, it is truly “code orange” for the Netherlands, and even “code red” for some municipalities. Social connectedness and care for the elderly are declining rapidly, while loneliness and vulnerability are on the rise. And these are not problems simply solved with more labor migration.

Previous figures already showed that approximately one in five men over the age of 65 is childless. “Who will look out for them. Loneliness and vulnerability are major problems. Just ask the coaches at housing associations who see lonely men neglecting themselves in their homes. These are major risks and the first signs that social connectedness in the Netherlands is not doing well,” Latten said.