The number of immigrants entering the Netherlands has grown by 8,600 in the first half of this year to 76,000, compared with the same period in 2013, the central statistics office CBS reports on Monday.

The number of people leaving the Netherlands remained stable at 64,000, the CBS says, making net immigration 12,000.

The largest group of immigrants came from Poland, swelling the number of Poles living in the country to over 100,000. Most of them (70%) come here to work, mainly in construction and agriculture.

Around half of them stay ten years and then leave, the CBS says.

The number of Romanians coming to the Netherlands in the first half of this year doubled to 2,300 compared with the year earlier period. Bulgarian immigrant numbers remained stable at around 2,000.