Dutch study produces map breakdown of how immigrants from different countries either contribute to economy or become a burden on tax payers

A study has mapped out how much migration from different countries brings into the Netherlands and costs taxpayers in the country.

Migrants from countries such as Britain, the US and Japan brought in more money than they took out, the study found.

Meanwhile, migrants from countries such as Sudan, Morocco, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the majority of whom are asylum seekers, would have cost Dutch taxpayers the most.

The Germany-based Institute for Labor Economics (IZA) published the discussion paper by Dutch economists Jan van de Beek, Joop Hartog, Gerrit Kreffer and Hans Roodenburg last week.

The study states that the net budget impact of the immigrant population ‘differs dramatically’ depending on their reasons for coming to the Netherlands.

“Migrant workers who arrive before the age of 60 make a net positive contribution to the government budget, more than €100,000 per immigrant if they arrive between the ages of 20 and 50,” the report said.

It adds that those motivated to come for family or educational reasons, as well as asylum seekers, make “negative net contributions” in terms of their financial input, regardless of the age of arrival.

The report, based on 2016 data, estimates that asylum seekers cost the Dutch state €400,000 (£330,000) over the course of their lives.

The burden on taxpayers does not come from government spending on these groups, she argued, but from their lower taxes and social security contributions.

Immigrants from North America, the majority of whom moved to the Netherlands for work, contributed an average of €210,000, the study found.

It comes at a time when the Dutch government is considering capping the population at 20 million people by 2050, Dutch News reports.

The cabinet ‘supports the need to work towards that scenario and to get a grip on migration’, Minister of Immigration Marjolein Faber and Minister of Social Affairs Eddy van Hijum said in a briefing to MPs at the end of last year.

The government has also introduced new border controls from December 9 to tackle ‘irregular migration and human trafficking’.

The border controls, which are all taking place with other countries in the EU’s Schengen border-free zone, are expected to last six months.

They are part of a broader crackdown on migration proposed by anti-Muslim nationalist Geert Wilders’ PVV party, the largest in the coalition.

The Dutch population grew by almost 40,000 inhabitants in the first six months of 2024, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands.

This was a third less than the previous year and reflected low numbers of immigrants, an increase in emigration and more deaths, the agency said.

Minister of Asylum and Migration of the Netherlands, Marjolein Faber (C), at the start of border controls in Eijsden, Netherlands

Border controls are part of a broader crackdown on migration proposed by anti-Muslim nationalist Geert Wilders’ PVV party, the largest in the coalition

The Dutch population will be kept below 20 million, with limits introduced to ‘get a handle on migration’, under targets being considered by the country’s government led by Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof ( photo)

About 138,000 people moved to the Netherlands in the first six months of 2024, while 92,000 left, meaning there was a net immigration increase of 46,000 – which is roughly 25 percent less than the same period in 2023.

The government’s demographic development committee said last year that moderate growth would be the best option to ensure economic prosperity as the population of 18 million grows older, but Faber and van Hijum warned this would still have negative consequences have for public services.

The far-right government had opted for the “toughest package of measures ever to restrict asylum” and will opt for a “more selective and targeted policy for all other forms of migration, including labor and education-related movements,” the ministers said.

Faber and van Hijum also called for more research into ways to control immigration, which they said was “clearly necessary.”

There have been repeated warnings from statisticians and economists, who said the Netherlands needs foreign workers to fill the labor shortage.

The government’s migration advisory body previously said the country would need around three million more immigrants to work and pay taxes by 2040, but the council said this was not a realistic option.

Instead, current residents of the Netherlands would have to work more hours or retire later.