Amsterdam City of Youth

Proportion of youth increases, proportion of elderly decreases

 

Paradox: Amsterdam City of Youth and yet more elderly 

At the Research & Statistics symposium of the Municipality of Amsterdam on October 8, 2026, attention focused primarily on the increase in the number of elderly people in Amsterdam. In the report presented, 'A city for everyone?', figures were presented regarding the growth in the number of people aged 65+, 80+, and 85+: The number of people over 80 rises sharply to 66,000 and the number of people over 85 triples to over 36,000.

 

Kruyswijk (2026) in Het Parool Oct 8: “Amsterdam has been aging for years and will only become grayer in the coming decades”. The following day, the newspaper turned this into the headline: Aging, More than twice as many people over 80 in 2050. With the following figure accompanying the article: 

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At a glance, it is clear that the top line is steeper than the bottom line. Very roughly, the population increases from 940,000 in 2025 to 1,100,000 (+160,000), while the number of elderly people increases from 120,000 to 200,000 (+80,000). Population growth is therefore considerably faster than the growth in the number of people aged 65+. Conclusion: the aging of the Amsterdam population will decrease in the coming years. Even though the number of people aged 65+ is increasing, their share of the population is decreasing.

 

Naturally, it is of great importance that measures are taken to ensure the increasing number of elderly people have a good old age in Amsterdam. But not because Amsterdam is aging further, for that is not the case. 

 

Amsterdam is increasingly becoming a city of young people

For years, Amsterdam's growth has been entirely driven by a net influx of 18-29 year olds. All other age groups experience a net outflow (small at older ages).

 

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Source: O&S; processed by Amsterdam Sorteermachine (https://www.amsterdamsorteermachine.nl/instroom-en-uitstroom-leeftijd-afkomst)

 

Young people are the largest group of settlers and the largest group of leavers

As is clearly visible in the left figure above, young people aged 18-29 are not only the most important settlers, but they are also the largest group of leavers. The departure of young people between 18-29 years is much greater than that of the 30-34 age group. Contrary to what is often assumed, nowadays it is not young households with small children (the thirty-somethings aged 30-39) that constitute the largest group leaving the city, but young people under 30 without children.

 

Conclusions

The proportion of young people aged 18-29 within the Amsterdam population is increasing. Despite the fact that a large proportion of them left the city before the age of 30. A large proportion of them do not stay; they leave (whether voluntarily or involuntarily). Young people can therefore enter the city (however difficult that may be), but many of them do not manage to stay here. It is widely observed that the youth of Amsterdam cannot (continue to) live in the city.

 

Every day we read the cry for help in the newspaper; in a random Parool from October 17: 
“Access to affordable housing has turned into a deep social crisis for an entire generation of young urbanites. Boot (30) is right in the middle of it himself. His temporary rental contract expires in a year and a half” (Parool 10-17-2026 Meike van der Ploeg – De sloop en de bouw zie je maar één keer) 

“I find the idea that my children and people their age cannot continue living in the city very upsetting.” (Parool 10-17-2026 Robert Vuistje – De stad van ….Trijntje Oosterhuis) 

  

Even before they start starting families and having children, they have already left the city: the declining birth rate also points to this. 

 

Living duration of youth in Amsterdam is decreasing 

Their length of residence in Amsterdam has halved. See article and left figure below; created by Amsterdam Sorteermachine based on O&S figures.

 

 

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It is therefore becoming increasingly difficult for young people to continue living in Amsterdam, regardless of whether they leave voluntarily or under duress (and everything in between). We also see this in the figures presented by O&S at its symposium 'Who Comes, Who Stays, Who Goes' on Thursday, October 8, 2026: see the image on the right above. 

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Explanation by O&S

• Recent migrant: someone who was born abroad and has lived in the Netherlands for a maximum of ten years on the reference date. The length of residence is calculated from the most recent immigration to the Netherlands.

• Previous migrant: someone who was born abroad and has lived in the Netherlands for longer than ten years.

• Domestic migrant: someone who was born in the Netherlands but outside the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and lives in Amsterdam on the reference date.

• Non-migrant: someone who was born in the MRA and lives in Amsterdam on the reference date.

 

The population growth in recent years is therefore largely the result of the increase in the number of recent migrants from abroad. Their number has more than doubled (from 84,640 to 182,520 between 2013 and 2025), while the other groups remained more or less the same. The number of internal migrants even decreased slightly: they do enter in large numbers, but also leave again in slightly larger numbers.  

 

Besides the fact that the number of migrants from abroad has more than doubled over the past 10 years, their share of the total population has also increased significantly: from 84,640 out of 799,350 = 10.6% to 182,520 out of 933,310 = 19.6%. So, also nearly doubled. Almost 20% of the Amsterdam population therefore consists of foreign migrants who have come to live here in the last 10 years. If we add the recent internal migrants to this, then at least a quarter of the population here is under 10 years old. And since these newcomers are for the most part between 18 and 29 years old, this represents an enormous rejuvenation of the city. What in What is not reflected in these figures is the large difference in length of stay within these groups; the sorting process between those who entered the city and grew up here. 

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In conclusion

The growth in the number of elderly people in Amsterdam must lead to appropriate measures. In addition, measures must be taken to ensure that a larger proportion of young people, both newcomers and native Amsterdammers, can continue to live here. They are the victims of the city's current (housing market) development.

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Amsterdam, October 19, 2026

Jaap Draaisma