The number of officially self-employed in the Netherlands rose a ‘spectacular’ 9% in the first three months of this year, says national statistics office CBS.

In total, the Dutch working population (15 to 64 years-old) now stands at 7.1 million, the CBS says. Of them, 5.7 million have a permanent job, 530,000 have a flexible contract and 900,000 are either ‘self employed’ or employed family members.