More EU nationals in the Netherlands, most are here to work
The number of EU nationals living in the Netherlands has doubled over the past ten years to 745,000, national statistics agency CBS said on Tuesday.
That means the citizens of other EU countries make up 4% of the population of the Netherlands, compared with just over 2% in 2014.
Some 26% of the EU nationals in the Netherlands come from Poland, followed by Germany (11%) and Bulgaria and Italy, both on 8%.
Most EU nationals have come to the country to work, the CBS said. Half of the EU nationals who moved to the Netherlands in 2011 had gone within three years, and 75% had left by 2021.
At an EU level, Luxemburg has by far the most residents from other EU countries – they account for 37% of the population. In Cyprus, other EU nationals make up 10% of the local population, in Austria 9.5% and Belgium 8.4%.
Some 650,000 of the EU nationals are over the age of 18 and would have been eligible to vote in Thursday’s European elections in the Netherlands. However, only 67,000 have signed up to do so.
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