The counter above shows how many registered inhabitants there are in the Netherlands at this moment according to the most recent estimate of Statistics Netherlands.
The population does not always increase at the same rate. Growth rates vary from day to day, from month to month and from year to year. More babies are born on weekdays than in the weekends, in the summer more children are born than in the winter and in years of economic prosperity birth rates are higher than in periods when people have little faith in the economy.
Every day on average 480 babies are born, and 380 people die. An additional 425 immigrants are registered, while 395 emigrants leave the country.
The current number of inhabitants in the Netherlands is an estimate calculated by Statistics Netherlands. The figure refers to the residents in the Netherlands recorded in the municipal population registers. Although Statistics Netherlands receives daily information from the municipalities on all changes in the municipal registers, this does not mean that the current number of inhabitants is exactly known on a daily basis. First of all there is a short – and sometimes a longer – period between the moment that such a change takes place and the moment it is recorded in the register. In the case of a birth, this is usually a short period, but for immigration there might be quite a lapse. Asylumseekers, for example, are only registered after six months. Secondly, an unknown number of people are never recorded in the population registers because they do not have a residence permit, illegal immigrants for example. And thirdly Statistics Netherlands itself needs time to process the reports. Therefore the number of inhabitants calculated by Statistics Netherlands for a given moment is partly based on a estimate.