Demographic profile
Netherlands is the 75th most populous of the 238 countries and territories tracked on this site, home to about 0.2% of everyone alive. Within Western Europe, it ranks 3 of 9.
Each day brings roughly 444 births and 491 deaths — a net decline of about 17,166 people a year. At -0.1% annually, the population would halve in roughly 700 years if the trend held. Real trajectories bend as fertility, mortality and migration shift, which is why the chart below shows both history and projection.
Among its first-level divisions, the largest by our modelled allocation is Utrecht, holding an estimated 27.5% of the national population. The full breakdown of all 12 states and regions is in the table below — regional figures outside Sudan are modelled estimates built on real region names, and are flagged as such.
Literacy stands near 99.0% and adult smoking prevalence around 22.0%, with life expectancy at about 78.3 years. Baselines come from UN World Population Prospects, the World Bank, WHO surveys, WorldPop and HDX; the counters project them forward in real time — the method, and every caveat, is documented on our data sources page.
Quick answers
What is the population of Netherlands in 2026? Approximately 17,092,983 people (live projection; the counter above updates every second).
How fast is Netherlands shrinking? About -0.1% per year — roughly 444 births and 491 deaths every day.
What share of the world lives in Netherlands? Around 0.2% — ranked 75 worldwide by population.