The number of inhabitants of our country grew by fifty thousand more compared to 2020. The reason for this can be found in a higher number of immigrants against a lower number of emigrants and so more children were born last year. Although relatively high – more than 168 thousand – the death rate in 2021 remained virtually the same as the year before. This means that population growth is almost back to pre-corona levels.
Despite growth, 2021 will not go beyond ‘top year’ 2019. At the time, there were 125,000 new Dutch citizens. In that respect, 2020 was a lean year. At that time, the population growth was halved compared to 2019 due to lower foreign migration and there was no ‘natural increase’ (birth minus death), as the CBS describes this phenomenon. In terms of figures, the research bureau is also a bit skeptical because definitive statistics can still change ‘due to developments in the last weeks of the year’.
Babies
The question that burns on many lips: have more or fewer babies been born due to lockdowns and working from home? In any case, the numbers point upwards. Since 2013, an average of about 170,000 babies have been born every year. It is expected that 2021 will disappear into the books with 180 thousand new citizens.
‘From February, more children will be born each month than in the same month of 2020. Due to the higher birth rate, the Dutch population is expected to grow by more than 11 thousand inhabitants in 2021 due to natural growth. In 2020, death and birth were still in balance’, according to the statisticians at Statistics Netherlands.
Is there a baby peak due to lockdown? Dick ter Steege of CBS laughs when he is asked the question: “It was the most frequently asked question last year: will we have a baby boom as a result of corona and lockdowns? We will never say that it is because of corona, but significantly more children were born than in 2020. That is why we have even placed an informative video with chief sociologist Tanja Traag about this subject on the site.” Slow speaks in the video about a ‘birth wave’ and certainly not about a ‘tree’. Ter Steege adds: “We don’t call it a baby boom yet, but substantially more children have been born. Corona can certainly play a role in this: working from home makes the combination of work and care easier and worrying about long journeys is not an option for the time being.”
Not entirely unexpected, the statistic is that mortality has also been relatively high in the past year. More than 168 thousand people died. For example, the death rate during the third wave at the beginning of 2021 was above average.
Immigrants
Since 2005, the number of immigrants has been increasing every year. The estimate is over 245 thousand. That is 38 thousand more than in 2020. Because people are also emigrating, Statistics Netherlands expects that on balance 107 thousand inhabitants will be added as a result of foreign migration. In 2020 there were 68.4 thousand.