In the Election Questions 2026 series, UT researchers explore how science helps us understand the dilemmas voters face. This time, we dive into the facts about migration with the help of Melle Scholten, a political economist affiliated with the Public Administration program at the University of Twente.
How many people living in the Netherlands are immigrants?
“An immigrant is someone who was not born in a particular country but lives there. According to the most recent figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), about 3 million of the people currently living in the Netherlands were born in another country,” Scholten explains. “In total, a little over 18 million people live in our country, so a simple calculation tells us that roughly one in six residents is an immigrant.”
Is that a lot or a little in comparison?
“Compared to other high-income countries in the EU, that’s relatively low. In Germany, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, and Ireland, about one in five residents was an immigrant in 2023. Outside Europe, we find even higher immigration figures. In Qatar, three out of four residents are immigrants,” says Scholten. However, over the years, the share of immigrants per capita in the Netherlands has increased. “In 2010, just over one in ten residents of the Netherlands was an immigrant. That growth is not unique worldwide. The share of migrants in the global population has risen from 2.9% in the 1990s to 3.6%. So, the growth in the Netherlands is higher than in other parts of the world.”
Why do people migrate?
“That varies greatly from person to person. Some migrate because they are offered a better job outside their country of birth,” Scholten explains. "These people are called labour migrants or expats. Others flee war, or political or religious persecution. These people are refugees. And still others migrate temporarily for study purposes. For that reason, I myself lived in America for 4.5 years. Lastly, some people migrate for love. My great-grandmother was Swiss. She immigrated to marry my great-grandfather.”
In heated debates about migration, it is sometimes claimed that immigrants mainly come here to ‘live off welfare.’ What does Scholten say about that? “Scientific evidence suggests that migration to benefit from someone else’s welfare system is very uncommon. Migration mainly occurs between countries with similar levels of prosperity and social benefits,” says Scholten.
Could government policy influence the flow of asylum seekers?
“To some extent. Research shows that policy can influence immigration, but this depends on certain conditions, such as the provision of information,” Scholten emphasises. He points out that migration is mainly driven by the situation in the country of origin, not by how strict the asylum policy is. “During the Schoof-I Cabinet, there were fewer asylum applications in the Netherlands, but that was true for all of Europe. This was mainly because fewer people fled to Europe, not so much because of our stricter asylum policy.”
If our next government seriously wants to reduce asylum applications, it will primarily need to focus on improving living conditions elsewhere, Scholten argues. “Cutting development aid, as some parties propose, could actually backfire in that regard. We also need to be much more cautious at the European level about dumping our subsidised production surplus in other parts of the world. When people cannot build a decent life where they live, they will seek opportunities elsewhere.”
This interview was conducted with Melle Scholten. He earned his PhD in April 2025 at the University of Virginia (United States) on the political and socio-economic consequences of emigration and return migration. He now works at the University of Twente and is an expert in international and comparative political economy.
