The Netherlands is the 23rd most densely populated country in the world, with 395 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,023 sq mi)—or 484 people per square kilometre (1,254/sq mi) if only the land area is counted, since 18.4% is water.

The fertility rate in the Netherlands is 1.7 children per woman, well below the 2.2 rate required for population replacement. It is also one of the most densely cabled countries in the world. Internet distribution is at 73.3% the 5th highest in the world.[14]

The ethnic origins of the citizens of the Netherlands are diverse. A majority of the population, however, still remains indigenous Dutch (although the latter notion is also to be relativized strongly). They were: 80.8% Dutch, 2.4% German, 2.4% Indonesian (Indo-Dutch, Moluccan), 2.2% Turks, 2.0% Surinamese, 1.9% Moroccan, 1.5% Indian, 0.8% Antillean and Aruban, and 6.0% other.[15] However, this does not include the whole Kingdom of the Netherlands (such as the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, which have a non-Dutch majority community), and only includes the population in the Netherlands itself. The Netherlands also has a resident population of some 800,000 people of Indo (mixed Dutch and Indonesian) descent.

The people of the Netherlands are amongst the tallest in the world, with an average height of about 1.81 metres for adult males and 1.68 m for adult females.