Amsterdam is the largest city in the Netherlands, with a population amounting to over 918,100 inhabitants. In the last ten years, Amsterdam’s population increased rapidly, and the end is not yet in sight. By 2030, the number of inhabitants is forecast to reach over one million.

 Amsterdam and tourism  

Amsterdam is not just a popular place to settle down, it is also one of Europe’s leading city trip destinations. In 2020, tourists spent nearly 5.8 million nights in the city. Europe’s most popular capitals, London and Paris, registered roughly 20.77 and 14.13 million nights, respectively. In 2019, Amsterdam ranked 10th on the list of leading European city tourism destinations, just below Vienna and Prague.
   Tourism boom  

Tourism in Amsterdam is booming. In the last ten years, the number of tourists visiting the capital has doubled. In 2018, the city registered nearly 8.6 million hotel guests. The largest group of guests visiting Amsterdam were tourists from the U.K. (three million hotel nights), followed by domestic tourists and tourists from the US (2.9 and two million hotel nights, respectively).

Population growth in The Netherlands by birth, death and migration by sex and region.

In addition to national data, information is presented by group of provinces, province, COROP region and municipality.

The regional totals shown concern cumulated municipal data. Where changes of municipal boundaries transect regional boundaries, the municipal classifications concerns the most recent situation. The municipality of Vianen, for example, was annexed by the province of Utrecht on 1 January 2002, and is classified under the province of Utrecht in the Table.

Data available from: 1942

Status of the figures: All data recorded in this publication are final data. Up to 1977 data may differ from other published data on StatLine. This is due to differences between the data files used by Statistics Netherlands and the official data as published in 'Loop van de bevolking per gemeente'.

Changes as of 9 July 2025: Final figures of 2024 have been added.

When will new figures be published? In the 3rd quarter of 2026 figures of 2025 will be added in this table.

The number of recipients of unemployment benefits has fluctuated significantly since 2000. Between 2000 and 2009 the number of recipients decreased from 50,000, which was the highest in the past 20 years, to 31,000. In 2021, the number of recipients increased to 43,000 following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, before decreasing to 40,000 people receiving unemployment benefits in 2022.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Amsterdam, Netherlands metro area from 1950 to 2025.

This statistic shows the total population of the Netherlands from 2020 to 2024, with projections up until 2030. In 2024, the total population of the Netherlands was around 17.94 million people. Population of the Netherlands Despite its small size, the Netherlands is the twenty-third smallest nation in the European Union, and it is one of the most important nations in Europe and the world. The Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union, a member of the Group of Ten, and NATO. The total population of the Netherlands has rapidly increased over the past decade. Between 2004 and 2014, the total population increased by around 600 thousand people, currently estimated to be around 16.9 million altogether. The biggest cities in the Netherlands include Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, with Amsterdam alone being home to almost 800 thousand residents. Among other factors, the Netherlands' increasing population is due to high life expectancy, economic growth and job opportunities. In 2011, the population of the Netherlands grew by around 0.47 percent in comparison to 2010. That same year, life expectancy at birth in the Netherlands was a little over 81 years, the highest recorded life expectancy since 2001. In addition, the unemployment rate in the Netherlands is one of the lowest unemployment rates in all of Europe.

The number of registered cases of arson in Amsterdam increased by 50 (+16.95 percent) since the previous year. With 345, the number thereby reached its highest value in the observed period. Find more statistics on other topics about Amsterdam with key insights such as number of registered cases of firearm offences and number of scams reported.

Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Amsterdam, Netherlands metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Comprehensive socio-economic dataset for Netherlands including population demographics, economic indicators, geographic data, and social statistics. This dataset covers key metrics such as GDP, population density, area, capital city, and regional classifications.

In 2023, 17.81 million people were living in the Netherlands. The most populated age group was 50 to 55 years old, with 1.28 million people in that age range. Of these, 635,000 were male, and 640,000 were female. The distribution between male and female population was somewhat equal for all age groups, until the highest age groups. For 100 years and older, there were around 2,200 females and only about 400 males, while the distribution for people between the ages of 95 to 100 was 5,700 males and 18,100 females.

How is the population distributed by province?

The Netherlands counts 12 provinces, and naturally, the Dutch population is not distributed among them equally. In 2022, the most populated province was South Holland which includes cities such as Rotterdam and The Hague with 3.67 million residents. North-Holland, which includes the Dutch capital Amsterdam, had 2.85 million residents. The least populated province was that of Zeeland, with a mere 383,000 residents.

How does the Dutch population compare to the rest of Europe?

In 2021, the Netherlands had the eleventh highest population in Europe, with 17.17 million residents. This puts the Netherlands above Belgium with 11.63 million and below Romania with 19.12 million. Russia is the most populated European country with 145.91 million residents, meaning it has about 8.5 times the population of the Netherlands. The least populated country in Europe other than Vatican city is Gibraltar, with 34,000 inhabitants, meaning it has 0.2 percent of the population of the Netherlands

This dataset contains tables with stock data on the population of Amsterdam broken down into age groups, gender, nationality, migration background, household types and marital status. For figures on the population in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (AMA), the four major cities (G4) and the Netherlands, please consult StatLine - the database of Statistics Netherlands.

In the year 1800, the population of the region which makes up the present-day Netherlands was approximately two million people. The beginning of the 19th century was a tumultuous time in Dutch history, as the region had recently been annexed by Revolutionary France; however the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was eventually established in 1815 (which also included present-day Belgium and Luxembourg) and a period of economic growth, modernization and high quality of life followed. In spite of this economic prosperity, religious tensions between the predominantly Catholic south and Protestant north led to a split in the kingdom in 1839, where it was eventually partitioned into Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, along borders very similar to today's. Rapid modernization and liberalization continued throughout the 19th century, and in 1900 the population of the Netherlands was over five million people.

Early 20th century The Netherlands was free to continue economic expansion, both in the metropole and in its colonies, uninterrupted for much of the first half of the 20th century (partly facilitated by its neutrality in the First World War). This resulted in a steady rise in population, which doubled to ten million within half a century. Population growth would even continue throughout the Second World War, as the Netherlands would be spared from much of the casualty-heavy conflicts seen in neighboring countries; however, most estimates concur that approximately 210,000 Dutch people died as a result of the war, half of which were Jews murdered in the Holocaust. The war also saw the end of Dutch colonization in the East Indies, as Japan annexed the region of present-day Indonesia in 1942; although the Dutch tried to re-colonize the region after the war, Indonesia became an officially recognized independent nation in 1949.

Netherlands today Population growth in the Netherlands would continue largely uninterrupted in the post-war years, until the 1970s, when it began to slow as Western Europe experienced periods of recession and high unemployment. Improvements in contraceptives and education also saw birth rates fall at their fastest ever rates in the 1970s. Following the recovery of the Dutch economy in the 1990s, population growth would resume once more, continuing steadily into the 21th century. In 2020, the Netherlands is estimated to have a population of just over 17 million people, making it one of the most densely populated countries in the world. For its size, the Netherlands has one of the strongest economies globally, and often ranks among the highest in terms of development, freedom and quality of life.

This dataset contains tables on the population projections for Amsterdam, broken down by age groups, gender, household types and migration background. For figures on population forecasts in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (AMA), the four major cities (G4) and the Netherlands, please consult StatLine - the database of Statistics Netherlands.

In 2023, Zuid-Holland was the most populated province in the Netherlands, with over 3.8 million inhabitants. That was over 800,000 inhabitants more than runner-up Noord-Holland, the province in which also the capital Amsterdam is located. That year, Amsterdam’s population alone made up 863,000 of Noord-Holland’s nearly three million inhabitants.

 Zuid-Holland   

Zuid-Holland’s largest city is Rotterdam, home to approximately 645,000 people. The third largest city in the Netherlands, Den Haag (or The Hague, as internationals would know it) is also located in Zuid-Holland. The city, which hosts the Dutch government as well as many international organizations, reached a population of roughly 538,000 in 2019.

Utrecht and Eindhoven  

 Completing the top five of the largest cities in the Netherlands are Utrecht and Eindhoven, located in the provinces Utrecht and Noord-Brabant. The city of Utrecht had nearly 353,000 inhabitants in 2019, or roughly one quarter of the entire population of the province bearing the same name. Eindhoven’s population reached nearly 232,000 that year, but as Noord-Brabant boasts two more of the largest cities in the country, Eindhoven plays a less central role in its own province as Utrecht does, despite being home to both Philips and one of the most successful football clubs in Dutch history, PSV Eindhoven.

Not surprisingly, the capital of the Netherlands is also its largest city. At around *******, Amsterdam has over ******* inhabitants more than the second-largest city in the country, Rotterdam. The Hague and Utrecht, the third and fourth-largest cities in the Netherlands, together have approximately as many inhabitants as Amsterdam alone. Amsterdam and the pressure on the housing market A rapidly growing city, Amsterdam’s population increased from roughly ***** thousand to around ***** thousand in the last decade. This has created pressure on the real estate market, where average rent and housing prices have skyrocketed. In the first quarter of 2010, the average rent of residential property amounted to roughly ***** euros per square meter. In the first quarter of 2021, this had increased to over ***** euros per square meter.  2030 Outlook  In the nearby future, Amsterdam is set to remain the Netherlands’ largest city. According to a recent forecast, by 2030 Amsterdam will have broken the barrier of one million inhabitants. Rotterdam, Den Haag and Utrecht are forecast to grow too, albeit at a much lower pace. In 2030, Rotterdam is expected to reach just under ******* inhabitants.

This statistic shows the degree of urbanization in the Netherlands from 2013 to 2023 and details the percentage of the entire population, living in urban areas. In 2023, 93.18 percent of the total population of the Netherlands lived in cities. Population of the Netherlands The Netherlands is a developed country with a high standard of living. Owing to a fairly steady fertility rate, the total population of the Netherlands has only slightly increased over the past decade. A look at the population growth in the Netherlands shows that growth has been less than 1 percent at some points, and has even decreased to less than 0.5 percent at other intervals over the past few years. Population density in the Netherlands has increased very slightly accordingly, with the majority of the population living in cities, the largest being Amsterdam in terms of residents, closely followed by Rotterdam. The median age of the Netherlands’ population (i.e. one half of the population is older, while the other one is younger) has increased significantly since the 1980s, which is indicative of a high life expectancy among inhabitants. The Netherlands is currently ranked 16th on a ranking of the 20 countries with the highest life expectancy worldwide. The Netherlands is also among the countries with the highest GDP in the world, and is thus one of the leading economies. The majority of the workforce is employed in the services sector, generating the majority of gross domestic product. The labor force of the Netherlands consists of more than 8 million employed persons, and the unemployment rate has been increasing since the economic crisis in 2008. The crisis has also been visible in the inflation rate in the Netherlands over the past few years; on the other hand, trade balance figures show that the Dutch economy has been recovering steadily.

This statistic shows the largest urban settlements in the Netherlands in 2021. In 2021, around 1.13 million people lived in Amsterdam, making it the largest city in the Netherlands. Population of the Netherlands With the global financial crisis in 2008 as well as the Euro zone crisis, many countries in Europe suffered a great economic impact. In spite of the crisis, the Netherlands maintained a stable economy over the past decade. The country's unemployment rate, for example, has been kept at a relatively low level in comparison to other countries in Europe also affected by the economic crisis. In 2014, Spain had an unemployment rate of more than 25 percent. The Netherlands' population has also seen increases in growth in comparison to previous years, with the figures slowly decreasing since 2011. As a result of the increase in population, the degree of urbanization - which is the share of the population living in urban areas - has increased, while the size of the labor force in the Netherlands has been relatively stable over the past decade. The population density of inhabitants per square kilometer in the Netherlands has also increased. Large cities in the Netherlands have experienced the impact of the population density growth and increase in the size of the labor force first hand. Three cities in the Netherlands have over half a million residents (as can be seen above). Additionally, more and more visitors are coming to the kingdom: The number of tourists in the Netherlands has increased significantly since 2001, a change which has also impacted the country's metropolises. Due to its location and affordable accommodation prices, the country’s tourism industry is developing and the largest cities in the Netherlands are taking advantage of it.

Key information about Netherlands Household Income per Capita

• Netherlands Annual Household Income per Capita reached 40,722.274 USD in Dec 2022, compared with the previous value of 42,978.238 USD in Dec 2021.
• Netherlands Annual Household Income per Capita data is updated yearly, available from Dec 2000 to Dec 2022, with an averaged value of 34,805.290 USD.
• The data reached an all-time high of 42,978.238 USD in Dec 2021 and a record low of 16,935.066 USD in Dec 2000.
• In the latest reports, Retail Sales of Netherlands dropped 4.190 % YoY in May 2023.

CEIC calculates Annual Household Income per Capita from Average Household Income and Average Household Size and converts it into USD. Statistics Netherlands provides Average Household Income in EUR and Average Household Size. Federal Reserve Board average market exchange rate is used for currency conversions. Annual Household Income per Capita prior to 2011 is based on old national methodology.

Employment Rate in Netherlands decreased to 82 percent in the first quarter of 2025 from 82.30 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024. This dataset provides - Netherlands Employment Rate- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Removals in Amsterdam urban region (Dutch only)

Customised tables on removals of households to, from and within the Amsterdam urban region in August/September 2011- September 2012, by demographic characteristics and household income. Commissioned by Amsterdam urban region.Note: a new version of this table has been published. The number of removals in the Amsterdam urban region presented in the previous version were incorrect.

Of the total non-Western population of approximately 2.53 million people in the Netherlands, people of Turkish origins formed the largest group with 430,000 people. The Dutch of Moroccan and Surinamese descent form the second and third-largest groups, with 419,300 and 359,800 people respectively.