43,000 civil servants and nobody ordered them
The Dutch central government grew by 38 percent in six years. Nobody voted for it. Everyone benefited. And now everyone wants to cut back.
Simon van Teutem wrote a revealing piece for De Correspondent about the growth of the Dutch central government. The numbers are staggering: between 2018 and 2024, more than 43,000 civil servants were added. A 38 percent increase. Costs rose by 68 percent, because salaries went up too. And the remarkable part: no political party ever included this in an election manifesto.
How can a government explode in size without anyone deciding it? The answer is as simple as it is disturbing: everyone wanted the outcomes of a bigger government, nobody wanted a bigger government. More police on the streets — more personnel. More personalised benefit assessments — more personnel. A Ministry of Climate — more personnel. Processing the childcare benefit scandal — more personnel. Every ambition, every crisis, every new programme translated into more people.
At the same time, the brakes were released. Former top civil servant Roel Bekker had built three mechanisms under the Balkenende IV government to control growth: a cap on positions, a budget ceiling, and a ban on filling gaps with external consultants. Under Rutte III, all three brakes disappeared. The result was predictable.
The irony is sharp: the parties now loudest about cutting the civil service are virtually the same parties that caused the growth. VVD MP Erkens wants ministries to choose between the nines and the sixes. But how do you prevent only the sixes from remaining?
This story touches on something fundamental: the invisible growth of systems. Organisations — public and private — tend to expand when there is no active counter-mechanism. Not out of ill intent, but through an accumulation of logical decisions that nobody oversees in their totality.
Van Teutem rightly argues that voters deserve the truth. If more civil servants are needed, explain why. If cutting is necessary, be honest about the consequences. Democracy benefits from transparency about the price of political ambitions.
The real problem is not the size of government. The real problem is that nobody owns the whole.
Source: Based on: Simon van Teutem — "Wie heeft ervoor gekozen om de overheid met 38 procent te laten groeien in zes jaar? Niemand", De Correspondent, 13 February 2026. https://decorrespondent.nl/16735/wie-heeft-ervoor-gekozen-om-de-overheid-met-38-procent-te-laten-groeien-in-zes-jaar-niemand