The population of the Netherlands grew by almost 55,000 people in the first six months of this year, less than half the 2022 figure which had been boosted by tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.

In the first half of 2022, over 73,000 people came to the Netherlands from Ukraine, but only 7,500 did so in the same period this year, national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

Most of the new immigrants came from Europe but a relatively large number went home as well, so their population only increased by 15,000.

By contrast, the number of new arrivals from Asia far outstripped the number leaving, giving a net increase of 27,000 people.

The new figures, which are preliminary, do not give an indication of how many of the new arrivals came to the Netherlands as refugees.

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In addition, the death rate outstripped the number of births by over 6,000, which further reduced the population growth figure, the CBS said.