The right-wing Dutch government is looking at drawing up specific targets to limit immigration and ensure the population of the Netherlands remains below 20 million by 2050.

Immigration minister Marjolein Faber and social affairs minister Eddy van Hijum told MPs in a briefing on Tuesday that the cabinet was embracing a report by the government’s demographic development commission which recommends a population ceiling of 19 to 20 million inhabitants.

The cabinet “supports the need to work towards that scenario and to get a grip on migration,” the ministers say.

Their comments are in response to last month’s vote, in which MPs called on the government to draw up bandwidth figures for different types of immigration. The population of the Netherlands is currently 18 million.

The commission said earlier this year that moderate growth is the best option to ensure economic prosperity in the coming years, as the current population ages.

But even this scenario has consequences for public services, such as housing, healthcare, and education, the ministers said. The cabinet, they reiterated, had opted for the “toughest ever package of measures to limit asylum” and will also choose a “more selective and targeted policy for all other forms of migration, including labour and education-related movement.”

The ministers said they had now asked for more research into the options for controlling immigration based on numbers as this is “clearly necessary”. The results will be published next year.

Economic reform

Economists and statisticians have warned repeatedly that the Netherlands will need to bring more foreign workers into the country to cope with having an aging population and to plug workforce gaps.

Some three million extra immigrants would be needed to shore up the workforce and pay taxes by 2040, the government’s independent advisory body on migration, the Adviesraad Migratie said last December. But given that is not a realistic option, people already here will have to work more hours or retire later instead, the council said.

Others have suggested a rethink of the current economic focus on industrial farming and logistics, which require large amounts of cheap, foreign labour.

Population growth

The population of the Netherlands grew by 39,000 in the first six months of this year, according to new figures from national statistics agency CBS.

The growth is down by one-third on the same period in 2023 and reflects low numbers of immigrants, an increase in emigration and more deaths, the CBS said.

In total, 138,000 people moved to the Netherlands in the first six months of the year and 92,000 left, meaning a net increase in immigration of 46,000 – down by a quarter on 2023.