The share of Indian migrants that arrived in the Netherlands in 2011 and that were residents in the country four years later, was 33 per cent, revealing that the trend of Indian migrants staying in the country has been more pronounced in the last years.
Indian Migrants Mostly Came to the Netherlands for Work & Family Reasons
As the data reveals, migrants from India came to the Netherlands mainly for work, family reunification, or to start a family. Family was the main reason for migration for about 45 per cent of Indian migrants in 2023.
Another 40 per cent of migrants listed work as their primary reason for migration while 15 per cent came to the Netherlands to study. However, a decade earlier (2013), the share of people who migrated to the Netherlands for labour purposes was larger than those who moved for family reasons – about 49 per cent compared to 37 per cent.
Amstelveen is the most popular municipality among Indian residents where 68,000 Indians live, which is 6,000 Indian residents per 1,000 inhabitants, followed by Uithoorn (50 per thousand residents), Eindhoven (35 per thousand residents) and Almere (31 per thousand residents).
On the other hand, Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, Overijssel, Gelderland, Zeeland and Limburg provinces have fewer Indian residents.
Immigration Numbers From India Sky-Rocketed in 2022
The number of immigrants from India has increased drastically only since 2022, since before 2005, only up to 1,000 Indians came to the Netherlands each year.
However, from 2005 to 2020, migration from India soared, to be disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and then increasing again. The highest number of Indian migrants was recorded in 2022, with net migration reaching almost 11,000.
After 2022, migration from India to the Netherlands marked a decrease for two of the following years while emigration increased. Net migration estimates reveal that the Indian population in the Netherlands increased by 4,000 in 2024. Immigration stands at 9,392 while emigration was 5,411, indicating that over 5,000 Indian nationals left the Netherlands in 2024.
