The number of self-employed persons without personnel (zzp'ers) in the Netherlands will decrease slightly between 2023 and 2025 for the first time in years: from 1.21 million to 1.20 million. This is according to the report "A decade of self-employment - facts, figures and developments. Remarkably, the contraction does not occur among the much-discussed group of self-employed people who work for companies with few clients, but rather among self-employed people who are clearly entrepreneurs. The number of self-employed people selling products fell from 200,000 to 180,000 (-10 percent) and the number of service providers to individuals from 339,000 to 328,000 (-3.2 percent).

Relatively more self-employed own labor
The proportion of self-employed people who supply their own labor to businesses (b2b) and have fewer than three clients annually is actually increasing. Although their absolute number is slightly lower in 2025 at 273,000 than in 2023 (279,000), their share relative to all self-employed workers has increased as other groups have declined more sharply.

These figures emerge from the new report by independent knowledge platform ZiPconomy, in collaboration with ONL voor Ondernemers and HR-tech service provider HeadFirst Group. The biennial report is based on current figures from sources such as Statistics Netherlands (CBS), TNO and Intelligence Group. Erik Ziengs, chairman of ONL voor Ondernemers: "I am pleased that for the third time in this composition we can present a substantive report on the hard-working self-employed entrepreneur. Too often I hear unsubstantiated statements and arguments in discussions in The Hague. With this report we set out the facts, now it is up to politicians to make the right policy choices based on the facts."

Least under discussion, sharpest decline
The analysis shows that the number of self-employed people selling products declined from 200,000 in 2023 to 180,000 in 2025 (-10 percent). The group of self-employed people who primarily provide services to individuals also declined slightly: from 339,000 in 2023 to 328,000 in 2025 (-3.2 percent).

These groups do not work for large organizations and do not compete with workers in the labor market. Thus, the group least under discussion has been most affected by policy in recent years.

Marion van Happen, CEO HeadFirst Group: "Zzp'ers are at the center of the political debate about the labor market, but too often the discussion is based on assumptions rather than facts. Our goal is clear: inform MPs and policy makers with objective figures, to give them more insight into the Dutch self-employed population. For visioning the labor market and making the right policy choices, figures and facts are crucial. With the publication of this report, we are once again providing them."

Aging and rejuvenation
The report further shows that the self-employed population is no exception to the aging of the Dutch workforce. A third of all self-employed people are 55 years of age or older. That percentage has increased significantly: in 2015, it was just over a quarter. The number of employees aged 55 and older is also growing, but that growth is considerably less pronounced.

Strikingly, there are more young self-employed people, percentage-wise, than there were a decade ago. The number of self-employed people between the ages of 25 and 34 increased by a whopping 42 percent. Of the total growth in the number of self-employed over the past decade, 59 percent came from the growth in the number of people over 55 and 26 percent from the increase in self-employed people under 35. So the self-employed are "aging" and "greening" at the same time.

Ten years of zzp developments and a look at Belgium
This is the third time that ZiPconomy, ONL for Entrepreneurs and HeadFirst Group have released a report with up-to-date figures. It provides an overview of the development of the self-employed market between 2015 and 2025. With this, the researchers want to contribute to a better informed labor market debate.

Hugo-Jan Ruts, founder of ZiPconomy: "We look back at ten years of zzp discussion and analyze how the landscape changed since the disappearance of the VAR. How did the group of self-employed entrepreneurs develop? And how do they compare to employees in terms of income, protection and position on the labor market?"

In this edition, the researchers also make a comparison with the situation of self-employed workers in Belgium, where a separate law and customization by sector regulate the relationship between clients and self-employed workers. The trigger is the proposal for the new Self-employment Act, which is partly inspired by the Belgian model. The international comparison offers valuable insights for politicians and policymakers.

The report is available here download.