Asylum claims up 33% but overall immigration falls sharply

The number of people claiming asylum in the Netherlands rose by a third in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period last year. At the same time, overall immigration fell sharply and population growth slowed to its lowest level in a decade.

Just under 6,000 people lodged a first asylum application between January and March, statistics agency CBS said on Wednesday – up 33% on the same period in 2025, but 20% down on the previous quarter. The 2025 first-quarter figure was unusually low and the latest total is still below the equivalent quarters in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

The largest single group of applicants, numbering about 1,150, was people registered with an unknown nationality, a category that has grown sharply over the past year.

The CBS said this includes people who do not state a nationality and people from territories the Netherlands does not recognise as states, including parts of the Palestinian territories.

Sudan and Somalia up, Syria down

Applications from Sudanese nationals jumped from 45 a year earlier to 485 (a tenfold rise), while Somali claims more than doubled to 360 (up around 150%). Syrian applications fell by 410 to 530 (down 44%), although Syrians remain the second-largest group of first-time applicants.

A separate category, family members joining recognised refugees already in the Netherlands, rose 21% to 4,560 in the quarter. Three-quarters of these were Syrian.

Population growth at decade low

Despite the rise in asylum claims, overall immigration fell. Some 66,000 people moved to the Netherlands in the first quarter, down from 79,000 a year earlier, while emigration was unchanged at around 48,000, the CBS said in a parallel release. Net migration of 17,800 was the lowest first-quarter figure since 2021.

The drop was driven primarily by fewer Syrians registering with Dutch municipalities – 4,600, down from 9,500 a year earlier. Chinese and Polish net migration also turned negative for the first time in years, with more people leaving than arriving.

The Dutch population grew by just under 10,000 to 18.14 million, the smallest first-quarter increase since 2015. More people died than were born, meaning the entire growth came from migration.