Statistics Netherlands reviews the year 2024

© Sjoerd van der Hucht
In 2024, the population counter passed 18 million people for the first time. This year, those 18 million people in our small country were more likely to be overweight, but enjoyed an increase in their wages and saw house prices rise. They also had a consistently pessimistic outlook on conditions in the Dutch economy. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this based on figures that were released over the course of 2024.

CBS's population counter passed the 18 million mark on 15 August of this year. The population grew mainly due to net migration from other countries. The largest number of new residents came from Ukraine and Syria. The population of the Netherlands passed the 17 million mark in 2016.


Our population has not only become more diverse, but also older. The proportion of the population aged under 20 has dropped and the proportion aged over 65 has grown. The share of people aged over 80 has also continued to rise. At the beginning of 2024, the average age was 42.6, while in 2016 it was 41.5. Population growth was mainly seen in the Randstad conurbation.

An increasing number of Dutch people are overweight (or even severely overweight). In 2023, 16 percent of people aged 20 years or older were obese (meaning severely overweight). That was three times as many as in the early 1980s, when 5 percent of people in this age group were obese. There was also an increase in more serious forms of obesity.

Figures were presented on LGBTQIA people for the first time

For the first time, CBS presented estimates of the number of LGBTQIA people in the Netherlands. A total of 18 percent of the population aged 15 or older are LGBTQIA – an abbreviation that stands for lesbian, gay, bi-plus, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual. This group conists of approximately 2.7 million people, with bi-plus being the largest group at 1.7 million. In general, LGBTQIA people are somewhat younger than the average Dutch person and are more likely to live in the large cities.

LGBTQIA people, 2023LGBTQIA people, 2023 LGBTQIA Non-heterosexual orientation Homosexual men 17.7% 1.8% Homosexual women Bi-plus men Bi-plus women 0.7% 5.1% 6.0% Asexual men Asexual women Other 0.7% 1.2% 0.3% Transgender/NBGQ Intersex Trans men Trans women 0.4% 0.3% NBGQ Intersex 0.3% 0.3% Don’t know (yet) 0.9% There is a small overlap between people with a non-heterosexual orientation, transgender/NBGQ people and intersex people. For example, a person may be a homosexual transgender man. * % of the population aged 15 years and aboveLGBTQIA people, 2023LGBTQIANon-heterosexual orientationHomosexual men 17.7%1.8%Homosexual women Bi-plus men Bi-plus women0.7%5.1%6.0%Asexual men Asexual women Other0.7%1.2%0.3%Transgender/NBGQIntersexTrans men Trans women 0.4%0.3%NBGQIntersex0.3%0.3%Don’t know (yet) 0.9%There is a small overlap between people with a non-heterosexual orientation, transgender/NBGQ people and intersex people. For example, a person may be a homosexual transgender man.*% of the population aged 15 years and above

New poverty line

In 2024, CBS, SCP and Nibud designed a new method to measure poverty. Under the new method, not only income, but also savings and other immediately usable assets count towards determining whether a household is living in poverty. The new poverty line replaces the previous definitions used for measuring poverty. According to this method, a total of 540 thousand people in the Netherlands were living in poverty in 2023. This was 3.1 percent of the population compared to 7.1 percent in 2018. Over 115 thousand children aged under 18 grew up in poverty in 2023, or 3.6 percent of all children under 18.

Young people are more likely to participate in political protests

Between 2020 and 2023, 44 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds said they had participated in one or more political protests in the last five years. Between 2012 and 2019, this was around 38 percent. They were more likely to participate in unconventional forms of protest, such as marches and petitions, in particular.

Young people aged 18 to 24 considered their lifestyle less climate-conscious than people in older age groups. They were also more likely to demonstrate less environmentally friendly behaviour, such as travelling by air more often. CBS does not monitor climate-friendly behaviour on a regular basis, and so these figures cannot be compared across years.

Limits on emissions of nitrogen and phosphate for 2025 have not yet been reached

In 2023, emissions of nitrogen and phosphate in the agriculture sector were still over the new emission ceilings for 2025, but they were below the limits set for 2024. The total quantity of nitrogen excreted in animal manure in 2023 was 464 million kilograms, which was 26 million kilograms below the nitrogen emission limit for that year. The total quantity of phosphate excreted was 147 million kilograms, which was 3 million kilograms below the relevant ceiling for 2023.


The Living Planet Index (LPI) is often used to measure biodiversity. Since 1990, the Living Planet Index for the Netherlands has increased by an average of 13 percent. Populations of animals in fresh water have increased, but those in farmland and urban areas, and in open nature, have declined.

Tight labour market, with high labour force participation rate

As in previous years, the labour market was very tight in 2024. Conditions eased slightly, but the number of job vacancies still exceeded the number of unemployed persons by the end of the third quarter. This was the case in almost every industry; more than one-third of entrepreneurs reported a shortage of staff as the main obstacle in their business operations.

There is a mismatch between the high demand for labour and the available supply of labour. On the other hand, labour force participation has never been this high. Over 73 percent of the population aged 15 to 74 were in paid employment in 2024 – the highest percentage ever. This percentage was actually higher among young people aged 15 to 24. Nowhere in the world is the proportion of young people who are in neither employment nor education as low as in the Netherlands, according to figures from OECD.

There were 9.8 thousand job vacancies in mental healthcare (GGZ) in the second quarter of 2024. That is the highest number on record since measurements began in 2018. For every thousand jobs in this sector, there were 74 vacancies. The vacancy rate in healthcare and well-being was the highest of any sector, and much higher than the average of 46 vacancies per 1,000 jobs in the Dutch economy as a whole.

The economy is recovering, but wage increases and inflation remain elevated

The Dutch economy recovered in 2024 after a period of contraction in 2023. According to the first estimate conducted by CBS, gross domestic product (GDP) showed 0.8 percent growth in Q3 of 2024 relative to the previous quarter. Inflation stood at 1.1 percent in Q2 of 2024. GDP growth over Q1 was mainly attributable to household and public consumption.


CBS reported that inflation stood at 4.0 percent in November; in October it was 3.5 percent. That was lower than the peak in 2022 and 2023, but still elevated compared to the period before 2020.


Average wage growth rose well ahead of inflation, however. The hourly wage rates agreed under collective labour agreements, including special remuneration, rose by 6.8 percent in Q3 of 2024 year on year. That was as high as in the last quarter of 2023, when growth in negotiated wages was the highest in over forty years.


Despite the rebounding economy and higher wages, consumers remained negative about conditions in the Dutch economy throughout 2024. Consumer confidence stood at -25 in November, compared with -22 in October. Producer confidence also remained negative in 2024.

Rental and owner-occupied housing more expensive

Both renters and homebuyers had to dig deep into their pockets in 2024. Rents for properties in the Netherlands were an average of 5.4 percent higher in July 2024 than in July 2023. That was the largest average rent increase since 1993, when rents rose by the same percentage. In July 2023, rents had risen by an average of 2.0 percent.


In October 2024, prices for existing owner-occupied dwellings were 11.5 percent higher year on year, on average. That was the highest increase in over two years. House prices rose by 0.8 percent in October 2024, relative to September 2024, reaching an average transaction price of 467,355 euros.

Housing in the Netherlands is relatively expensive, more homeless people

People in the Netherlands spend an average of 23 percent of their disposable income on housing, meaning that the Netherlands ranks sixth in the European Union. In 2023, rents in the Netherlands were 18.5 percent higher than they were in 2015. The Netherlands ranks close to the EU average in this respect.
Over 177 thousand homes were planned by the end of 2023, nearly 58 thousand more than at the end of 2015. Construction permits had been granted for these homes, or construction was already underway, but the homes had not yet been completed.

On 1 January 2023, there were an estimated 30.6 thousand homeless people aged between 18 and 64 in the Netherlands. One year earlier, the figure was 26.6 thousand, which means that the previous decline in homelessness had come to an end. The number of homeless people of European origin was up compared to the previous year.

125 years of Statistics Netherlands

Finally, CBS celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2024. To commemorate this, CBS highlighted some statistics from the past. A few sets of figures date all the way back to 1899, the year when CBS was founded, or even further back. The articles and timelines produced on this subject provide a broad overview of notable events in the history of the Netherlands. Among other things, they emphasise the relationship between statistics and social issues at play at the end of the nineteenth century, such as poverty and incapacity for work, which are still relevant today.

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