The Netherlands’ 18-millionth resident

It is not possible to determine exactly when the population of the Netherlands reaches 18 million. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) estimates this using its population counter. The counter does not show real-time population figures, however. It does not tick up whenever a child is born or a new migrant is registered. Nor does it tick down whenever somebody passes away or leaves the Netherlands to live elsewhere. These figures only arrive at CBS after they have been registered by a municipality. CBS makes a real-time population estimate based on previous trends, and this is what the counter shows.

According to the population counter, the current population is estimated using the provisional figure for the first day of the previous month, supplemented by the expected rate of increase during this time of the year and differences between weekdays and working days. The figure only relates to people who are registered as resident in the Netherlands and excludes illegal migrants or asylum seekers who are in the Netherlands but have not been added to a municipal population register, for example.

This means we do not know exactly who the 18-millionth resident of the Netherlands is. It could be a new-born baby, a refugee from Ukraine or Syria, a worker from Poland, a student from China or a Dutch citizen who returns to the Netherlands after living abroad for a while. However, we can say that it is more likely to be a migrant than a new-born baby: in 2023, nearly 336 thousand new migrants registered with a municipality, while around 164 thousand children were born. The same was true in the first half of 2024.

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