Statistics Netherlands

Demographic statistics

P.O. Box 24500
2490 HA  The Hague

THE NETHERLANDS

Data and metadata are transmitted to Eurostat by the Member States in the framework of the Unified Demographic Data Collection which is in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 and their implementing regulations.

This Euro SDMX Metadata Structure is used for the purpose of quality reporting. The definition of the quality concepts and guidelines are described in the European Statistical System Handbook for Quality Reports.

The regional breakdown of the Member States in the regional demographic tables is done under the most recent NUTS classification. There are agreements between Eurostat and Candidate countries as well as between Eurostat and EFTA countries, for which statistical regions have been coded in a way that resembles NUTS.

For more information on the versions in force, please see: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nuts/.

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Number of persons.

Population, live births and deaths data are available at national and regional level of geographical detail.

Data are available as from 1995.

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Data is collected at unit (person) level.

The reference date for population data is the end of the reference period (midnight of 31 December). To be very precise, in the Netherlands the reference date for population data is the beginning of the reference period + 1.
The reference period for vital and dual events data is the calendar year in which the events occurred. The reference period for migration flow data is the calendar year in which the migration occurred.

The rules for registration in the Dutch municipal population register are laid down in the “Wet GBA” (Law on the Municipal Population Register), article 24 (et seq.).

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The aim of statistical safeguarding of Statistics Netherlands is to reveal no information on recognizable individuals.

No special treatment. Statistical output is developed with statistical disclosure control in mind.

In some tables, the figures are rounded before publishing.

Every month_t, usually in the third or fourth week of every month, a set of demographic key figures with reference period_t-1 is published on Statline, the online database of Statistics Netherlands. These data contain information on the total population at the beginning of the reference period as well as births, deaths, internal and international migration, marriages, divorces and requests for asylum during the reference period. These are all provisional data.
During April till June of year_t a set of more detailed annual data with reference period_t-1 is published on Statline. These are all final data.

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The data on Statline, as described in 8.1, is public available. Users can be notified of the release of the data, updates and modifications by RSS feed.

Key figures (preliminary data) are disseminated monthly; more detailed and final data are disseminated on an annual basis.

See https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/publication-calendar.

See https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/publication-calendar.

Here is the link to Statline, the online database of Statistics Netherlands: http://statline.cbs.nl/Statweb/?LA=en
(please note that the English version of Statline contains less information than the Dutch version).

Microdata are accessible only after a special procedure. See http://www.cbs.nl/en-GB/menu/informatie/beleid/zelf-onderzoeken/default.htm.

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For the quality declaration of Statistics Netherlands see: https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/about-us/organisation/quality.

See https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/about-us/organisation/quality.

Frequent users of demographic statistics are:
— Ministries;
— Universities;
— Journalists / press agencies;
— Planning agencies like the Netherlands Institute for Social Research, the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency;
— Students.

Estimate of the number of visits of demographic tables in  the Statline-output database of Statistics Netherlands in 2021. More recent data will be available in 2023.

Some frequently asked statistics are not available at Statistics Netherlands. These include, among others:
— Educational attainment of the population, especially the first generation migrant population living in the Netherlands.

Refugees from Ukraine who benefit from temporary protection in the EU are included in International Migration and Demographic Statistics when they are registered in a municipal population register. 

Asylum seekers and refugees are included in International Migration and Demographic Statistics when they are registered in a municipal population register. Registration can take place if they receive a residence permit or if they make use of a central reception for asylum seekers/refugees for at least six months, even without a permit. In this case asylum seekers without a residence permit can be registered in International Migration and Demographic Statistics.

Unknown citizenship in population stock and migration flows (tables P03, P04, B05, D05, M03, S02, I01, I02, E02, A00, LC01) occur when immigrants do not have the documents required to be registered in the population register as such. In case an immigrant cannot prove his citizenship by means of official documents local authorities can only register an immigrant with an 'unknown' citizenship. In course of time, when the immigrant has obtained the official documents regarding his citizenship, the information on citizenship will be updated.
In some cases country of birth is not filled out/registered or actually unknown (tables P05, P06, P07, M04, S03, E04).
In case an administrative entry in the population registers is preceded by an emigration, the country of previous residence is unknown (table I05). As from 2010 the fact is that such administrative entrances are considered as immigrations.

According to Article 4 (2) of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014, each year Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with data at national and regional level as described in Annex II and related standard reference metadata ( In the metadata structure definition defined for the Euro SDMX Metadata Structure) for the reference year within 12 months of the end of the reference year. According to Article 3 (2) of the Commission Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, Statistics on international migration, usually resident population and acquisition of citizenship shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within 12 months of the end of the reference year.

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Statistics are fully comparable between geographical areas.

Apart from differences between Residence Permits Statistics and International Migration statistics (see Annex) there are no differences of the statistical outputs with other related statistical outputs.
At this moment we don't have the time and capacity to update the annex with data from 2017-2022. We will try to send an update in due course.

In the Netherlands differences exist between the number of inhabitants in two consecutive years (on 1 January) which cannot be explained by births, deaths, international migration or administrative corrections. Because of improvements in the production method these so-called other corrections have decreased considerably from 2010 onwards (from 3 to 7 thousand in the period 1995-2009 to a few hundred from 2010 onwards).

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Almost all tables on Statline (the online database of Statistics Netherlands) with annual data are updated once a year. Some tables are updated once in every two year.
Tables containing monthly or quarterly data are updated every month, quarter respectively. Once a year provisional monthly figures are update with final monthly figures.

See Data revision policy.

Data are collected on a daily basis. Every day Dutch municipalities send their data on demographic events (births, deaths, internal migration, international migration, marriages, divorces) through electronic messages to Statistics Netherlands.

Statistics Netherlands aggregate these data into ascii files out of which tables are produced.

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Data are validated against data from former years/months.

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