Majority of Non-Dutch Immigrants Are Family Migrants
Statistics Netherlands | CBS
Source published: 5 November 25
Majority of Non-Dutch Immigrants Are Family Migrants
Of the people who moved to the Netherlands between 1999 and 2023 without Dutch nationality and still lived here at the end of 2023, the majority are family migrants.
Of the people who moved to the Netherlands between 1999 and 2023 without Dutch nationality and still lived here at the end of 2023, the majority, 644 thousand people, are family migrants. Some of these family migrants joined people who came earlier or simultaneously to the Netherlands. Most family migrants had paid work at the end of 2023. This was reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) based on new figures about migration motives. At the end of 2023, 2.38 million people lived in the Netherlands who had immigrated here between 1999 and 2023. The largest group of people who immigrated to the Netherlands during this period and still lived there at the end of 2023 were persons with Dutch nationality who returned after an earlier departure. There were 673 thousand of them on December 31, 2023.
Of the remaining migrants, the majority originally came to the Netherlands as family migrants. On December 31, 2023, there were 406 thousand family migrants from outside the EU/EFTA living in the Netherlands, and 238 thousand from EU/EFTA countries.
In 2024, a net total of 92 thousand people from outside the European Union or EFTA countries and over 24 thousand people from EU/EFTA countries moved to the Netherlands. It is not yet known how many family migrants are included within this group.
2019
2023
2024
1)Only immigrants who came to the Netherlands after 1998. For this group, the migration motive is known.
2)Ukrainians who fled to Europe fall under the EU Temporary Protection Directive
3) For EU/EFTA immigrants, the migration motive for 2024 is not yet available.
Almost 160 Thousand Family Migrants in Households of Labor Migrants
Some family migrants live in the Netherlands with someone who also immigrated to the Netherlands. On December 31, 2023, there were 91 thousand family migrants from outside the EU and 67 thousand family migrants from the EU in the household of a labor migrant.
There were 33 thousand family migrants living in the household of an asylum migrant (this does not include joiners). These can be, for example, a partner or children who live with family members who migrated to the Netherlands. This is called family reunification. But they can also live together with an immigrant with whom they did not previously form a family, this is called family formation.
The remaining family migrants are people who form a family with someone who moved to the Netherlands for another reason, and people who came to the Netherlands to marry, enter into a partnership, or live together with a partner who came to the Netherlands before 1999 or was born in the Netherlands.
Primary Income Source of Family Migrants Usually Work
Most family migrants who came to the Netherlands between 1999 and 2023 and still lived in the Netherlands on December 31, 2023, are employees or self-employed entrepreneurs. This applies to 62 percent of family migrants from the EU and 48 percent of family migrants from outside the EU.
Of the people who moved from within the EU and live in a household of labor migrants, 56 percent are employees or self-employed. Of the people who migrated from countries other than the EU, this is 33 percent.
Family migrants from outside the EU are more often (school) children or students compared to migrants from EU countries. This applies to 39 percent of family migrants from outside the EU, and 25 percent of EU family migrants in the household of a labor migrant.
Among non-school-going family migrants, the share of workers is 74 percent for migrants from the EU and 61 percent for migrants from outside.
Benefit or pension recipient
(School) child or student
Other (without observed income)
%
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