CBS: Immigration will fall in 2024, especially fewer knowledge migrants

The number of immigrants in the Netherlands has fallen again in 2024. This is evident from figures published on Friday morning from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). The decrease was especially noticeable in the number of knowledge migrants who came to the Netherlands.

According to CBS figures, 316,000 immigrants came to the Netherlands in 2024, about half of them came from outside the European Union (EU).

Two years earlier, in 2022, more than 400,000 immigrants came to the Netherlands, of which 230,000 from outside the EU. Compared to other years, the number of migrants from outside the EU was exceptionally high at the time. The Dutch government then decided to compensate for more than one hundred thousand Ukrainian war refugees through a special scheme.

The share of asylum migrants remains relatively low. Both in 2023 and in 2024, asylum migrants were one of the smallest groups of all immigrants in the Netherlands. In recent years, that number fluctuated around ten percent. “Over the past 25 years, an average of 9 percent of immigrants was an asylum migrant annually,” said Statistics Netherlands.

In 2022, the number of knowledge migrants also peaked, then around 26,000 came to the Netherlands. Since then, that number has fallen steadily. According to the CBS, nearly 16,000 skilled migrants arrived in 2024, as many as in 2021.

That decrease is remarkable, because for years the number of knowledge migrants, who mainly come from India, Turkey and China, continued to rise. Apart from the Corona year 2020, the number has almost only increased since 2012. Out An annual report of the IND It appears that the naturalization service is less likely to approve permits based on knowledge and talent. In 2022 the service still received 94 percent of all applications, two years later only 87 percent.

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