Netherlands - Demographics

Demographics

The Netherlands has an estimated population of 16,742,993 (as of 12 August 2012). It is the 11th most populous country in Europe and the 61st most populous country in the world. Between 1900 and 1950, the country's population almost doubled from 5.1 to 10.0 million people. From 1950 to 2000, the population further increased from 10.0 to 15.9 million people, but the rate of population growth was less than that of the previous fifty years. The estimated growth rate is currently 0.436% (as of 2008).

The fertility rate in the Netherlands is 1.82 children per woman (as of 2011), which is high compared with many other European countries, but below the rate of 2.1 children per woman required for natural population replacement. Life expectancy is high in the Netherlands: 83.08 years for newborn girls and 78.84 for boys (2012 est). The country has a migration rate of 2.55 migrants per 1,000 inhabitants per year.

The majority of the population of the Netherlands are ethnically Dutch. A 2005 estimate counted: 80.9% Dutch, 2.4% Indonesian, 2.4% German, 2.2% Turkish, 2.0% Surinamese, 1.9% Moroccan, 0.8% Antillean and Aruban, and 7.4% others. The Dutch are the tallest people in the world, with an average height of 1.81 metres (5 ft 11 in) for adult males and 1.67 metres (5 ft 6 in) for adult females in 2009. People in the south are on average about 2 cm shorter than those in the north.

Dutch people, or descendants of Dutch people, are also found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Canada, Australia, South Africa and the United States. According to the 2006 US Census, more than 5 million Americans claim total or partial Dutch ancestry. There are close to 3 million Dutch-descended Afrikaners living in South Africa. In 1940, there were 290,000 Europeans and Eurasians in Indonesia, but most have since left the country. According to Eurostat, in 2010 there were 1.8 million foreign-born residents in the Netherlands, corresponding to 11.1% of the total population. Of these, 1.4 million (8.5%) were born outside the EU and 0.428 million (2.6%) were born in another EU Member State.

The Netherlands is the 30th most densely populated country in the world, with 395 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,023 /sq mi)—or 484 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,254 /sq mi) if only the land area is counted. It is the 8th most densely populated country in Europe with a population density of 393/km2. The Randstad is the country's largest conurbation located in the west of the country and contains the four largest cities: Amsterdam in the province North Holland, Rotterdam and The Hague in the province South Holland, and Utrecht in the province Utrecht. The Randstad has a population of 7 million inhabitants and is the 6th largest metropolitan area in Europe.