Jews in the Netherlands in the 2020s: Fifty years of stability and ‘Israelisation’

In this report:

The new report by the JPR European Demography Unit estimates the ‘core’ Jewish population in the Netherlands is about 35,000. Furthermore, while the natural balance of Dutch Jews is negative (the population experiences more deaths than births), the Dutch Jewish population is growing slowly as a result of one single factor: migration, mainly from Israel.

The report was launched in Amsterdam in January 2025 in partnership with the Jewish Social Work Foundation/Joods Maatschappelijk Werk (JMW) and the Committee for Demography of Jews in the Netherlands.

Some of the key findings in this report:

• The ‘core’ Jewish population of the Netherlands is estimated to be about 35,000 today (a mid-point of a 29,000–41,000 range), constituting 0.2% of the Dutch population.
• According to the Israeli Law of Return, which applies to Jews, children and grandchildren of Jews, and all respective spouses, the estimated eligible population in the Netherlands might be as high as 65,000.
• The Dutch Jewish population experiences more deaths than births and cannot grow on its own. Nevertheless, it is slowly increasing due to one single factor: migration. This situation is similar to that of the Dutch population as a whole.
• Jews born in Israel constitute about 20% of the Jews living in the Netherlands today. The population with a direct connection to Israel, including those born in the Netherlands but with at least one parent born in Israel, comes to about a third of the Dutch Jewish population. A majority of Dutch Jewish children today are either Israel-born or born to Israeli parents already in the Netherlands.
• Dutch Jews are one of the most secularised European Jewish communities. Only about 20% identify as ‘Orthodox’ or ‘Traditional’, and just 10%–20% are fully religiously observant. About 60% of partnered Dutch Jews are married to someone who is not Jewish.
• A significant proportion of Dutch Jews (about 50%) currently identify with the Centre-Right in political terms. About a quarter are political centrists, and another quarter are Centre-Left. This situation is similar to the Dutch electorate as a whole.