Dutch Jewry is growing slowly — but only thanks to Israeli migration

New report finds that without the steady influx of Israelis moving to the Netherlands, population of about 35,000 Jews would gradually decline

Illustrative: The Israeli flag flies over a a kosher restaurant in Amsterdam, Thursday Dec. 7, 2017 (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Illustrative: The Israeli flag flies over a a kosher restaurant in Amsterdam, Thursday Dec. 7, 2017 (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

The migration of Israelis to the Netherlands is the sole reason for the growth of the European country’s Jewish population, according to a new study published by the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR).

“It is appropriate to say that the Dutch Jewish population is undergoing ‘Israelization,’” the report said. Without Israeli immigration, the country’s core Jewish population of about 35,000 would be gradually declining, it noted.

The demographic report looked at population data gathered over 30 years, and does not include immigration data for 2024. It is not clear that the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza or the attack in Amsterdam on Israeli soccer fans last November significantly affected immigration trends, noted Daniel Staetsky, the report’s author and senior research fellow and director of JPR’s European Demography Unit.

Jews constitute 0.2% of the total population of the Netherlands, the report said. The population figure of 35,000 reflects an upward correction by 5,000 to the accepted estimate published until recently in the American Jewish Year Book, a key reference text for global Jewish communities.

Between 2013 and 2023, an average of 200 Israelis were added to the Dutch Jewish population every year. That offset population declines like that of 2020, when the Jewish community had about 230 births and 290 deaths.

While the emigration of 200 Jews a year is practically imperceptible for Israel, “such numbers constitute a considerable addition to small Jewish populations in Europe that are no longer able to grow naturally due to low fertility and advanced aging,” the report noted.

Many Israelis initially arrive in the Netherlands on a temporary basis, but stay because they feel comfortable due to the country’s economic development and the fact that they don’t need to know the local language to fit in socially, Staetsky added.

Daniel Staetsky, senior research fellow and director of the European Demography Unit at the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (Courtesy)

About 20% of Jews living in the Netherlands today were born in Israel, and those born in the Netherlands but with at least one parent born in Israel comprise another third of the population. A majority of Dutch Jewish children today fit into one of these groups, the report said.

Assuming no change in migration trends, the Jewish population of the Netherlands will likely reach 36,000–37,000 by the mid-2030s, the report noted.

Dutch Jews are among the most secular of European Jewish communities, with only about 20% identifying as “Orthodox” or “Traditional,” and just 10%–20% fully religiously observant. About 40% identify as “just Jewish,” without a clear religious or denominational label.

About 60% of partnered Dutch Jews are married to someone who is not Jewish, and only about 25% circumcise their male babies. Jewish women in the Netherlands have an average of 1.2 to 1.3 children, less than the 1.5-1.6 found in the general population.

Some 80%–85% of Dutch Jews said they view remembering the Holocaust and combating antisemitism as “very important” parts of Jewish identity. Only 25% view belief in God in this way.

Close to 50% of Dutch Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 15% as Sephardic, and 25% as a mix of the two. About half of all Dutch Jews reside in North Holland, mostly in Greater Amsterdam, the report noted.

Politically, about 50% of Dutch Jews currently identify with the center-right, while a quarter are political centrists and another quarter are center-left. This breakdown is similar to that of the general Dutch population, the report noted.

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