The population of the Netherlands grew by 81,000 last year, taking the total to 16.5 million the national statistics office CBS said on Thursday.

In 2007, the population grew by 47,000.
The increase was due to a record number of immigrants arriving in the country – 143,000 – and a 5% drop in the number of people leaving, the CBS said.
In particular, the number of immigrants from other EU countries increased. At the same time, there was a rise in Poles, Romanians and Bulgarians returning home, the CBS said.