The Netherlands is growing out of its seams
According to figures from Statistics Netherlands and various population surveys, the Dutch population is steadily growing. The Netherlands now has about 17.7 million inhabitants and models indicate that this will be at least 20 million Dutch people in ten years’ time. That future entails such as expanding the number of houses and facilities. Are there limits to growth?
The guests at the table at WNL Haagse Lobby on NPO Radio 1 unanimously agree that talking about ‘demography’ is difficult in political The Hague. Talking about ‘population growth’ is talking about ‘migration’ “and immigration itself is extremely difficult”, says immigration expert Jan Subject van de Beek. That is because the Dutch population is currently created by asylum flows. “So there is quite a taboo on the subject of ‘demography’,” said the immigration expert.
Commission
Nevertheless, the steady growth of the population has penetrated politics. Last month a committee was set up to map out the problems if the Netherlands really has 20 million inhabitants. And there are many. Van de Beek even thinks that the population will grow to 26 within a considerable time and that society will really start to squeak and crack. But setting a clear boundary about what the Netherlands can and cannot handle in terms of numbers, nobody at the table wants to venture into that.
Labor economist Pieter Gautier thinks that growth is viewed too negatively. He also does not fully agree with Van de Beek’s research on growth and how much it will cost the state. “You have to make people work, then they generate profit for companies.” Van de Beek responds to this: “That is indeed possible with people from European countries, but the people who come from outside Europe often have far too little education for that.”
In any case, a lot will have to be done if the Netherlands is to be able to accommodate a few million extra inhabitants. The committee appointed by the cabinet will conduct an investigation in the coming period.
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Door: Floortje van Gameren