What Dutch Level Inburgeraars Actually Reach: A2, B1, or B2, and How Long It Takes
Official CBS figures on the Dutch language level reached by people who have finished their integration under Wet inburgering 2021 — how many land at A2, B1, or B2, how long the traject took, and how few have finished so far.
- Author
- By Inburgering.org team (Editorial team)
- Reviewer
- Reviewed by Kirill Svavolia (Editorial review)
- Last updated
Among the people who have already met their integration obligation (voldaan, met the obligation) under Wet inburgering 2021, the most common Dutch language outcome is level B1: according to CBS, about 47% passed all their language exams at B1, while roughly 19% finished at A2 and about 10% reached B2. But read this as an early-cohort snapshot, not a final result — only about 9,975 people, drawn from the first cohorts, had finished by the end of 2025, while around 85% were still busy. This page analyses official CBS statistics; we are not a government body and do not produce these figures, we only summarise them.
Direct Answer: What Level Do Inburgeraars Actually Reach?
Among inburgeraars who have met the obligation (voldaan) under Wet inburgering 2021, CBS data through end-2025 shows roughly 47% passed all their language exams at B1, about 19% at A2, and about 10% at B2, with a further ~15% recorded as having passed no language exams or an unknown level (many of these finished via an exempting route rather than the standard exams). This is the level reached among those who completed — not a per-component pass rate, and not a final completion rate, because only about 9,975 people, all from the earliest cohorts, had finished by the end of 2025.
Key Points
- B1 is the most common finishing level. Among people who have met the obligation (voldaan), about 47% passed all their language exams at B1 — by far the largest group.
- A2 and B2 are minorities. Roughly 19% finished with all exams at A2 and about 10% at B2; small shares reached a mix of levels.
- About 15% passed no exams or an unknown level. Not everyone who completes does so through the standard language exams — some meet the obligation through routes that do not produce an exam result.
- Most who finished did so fairly fast. About 60% of those who met the obligation took two to three years, and roughly 9 in 10 finished within three years.
- Very few have finished at all. At the end of 2025, only about 8% of the obligated population had met the obligation and about 85% were still busy (bezig). This is an early-cohort snapshot, not a final completion rate.
What This Data Measures (and What It Does Not)
Two clarifications matter before the numbers. First, this is the level reached among people who have already completed their integration — not a per-component pass rate. There is no public dataset of how many people pass the reading, writing, speaking, listening, KNM, or ONA parts of the exam; that data does not exist openly. So these figures answer "of those who finished, what level did they finish at?", not "what share pass each exam part?".
Second, this is not a final completion rate. The base is small — only about 9,975 people had met the obligation (voldaan) by the end of 2025, and they come almost entirely from the earliest cohorts. Wet inburgering 2021 started on 1 January 2022, and the standard integration clock runs three years, so most people simply have not reached the finish line yet. Treat every percentage below as an early snapshot that will shift as later cohorts complete.
Level Reached Among Those Who Finished
The table below shows the language level reached among the roughly 9,975 people who had met the obligation by the end of 2025, summed across all cohorts. "All exams at B1" means every language exam was passed at B1; the mixed categories mean a person passed some exams at one level and some at another. Percentages are of everyone who has met the obligation.
| Language level reached | People (voldaan) | Share of finishers |
|---|---|---|
| All exams at B1 | ~4,665 | ~47% |
| All exams at A2 | ~1,910 | ~19% |
| All exams at B2 | ~1,020 | ~10% |
| Mixed B2 and B1 | ~460 | ~5% |
| Mixed B1 and A2 | ~440 | ~4% |
| No exams passed or unknown | ~1,480 | ~15% |
Adding the categories that include B1 or higher (all-B1, mixed B2/B1, and all-B2), roughly 62% of finishers cleared all their passed exams at B1 or above. The ~15% with no exams passed or an unknown level is a reminder that meeting the obligation is not always done through the standard language exams: some people complete through routes or exemptions that do not generate an exam-level result.
If the difference between these levels is new to you, our guide to A2 vs B1 levels explains what each level means in practice, and which Dutch exam you need walks through how your required level is set.
How the Level Mix Shifts by Cohort
The level mix is not stable across cohorts, and that is mostly a timing effect: later cohorts have only their fastest finishers in the data so far, and those tend to be stronger learners. The table below shows the share reaching each "all-exams" level among finishers, by cohort (the year the integration decision was issued).
| Cohort | Finishers | All-B1 | All-A2 | All-B2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ~7,275 | ~41% | ~22% | ~9% |
| 2023 | ~2,235 | ~62% | ~12% | ~14% |
| 2024 | ~410 | ~68% | ~4% | ~20% |
Because the later-cohort bases are very small (around 410 finishers for 2022's successor cohort of 2024, and only a couple of dozen for 2025), their percentages are volatile and should be read cautiously. The 2025 cohort is omitted from the table: only about 25 of its members had finished, too few to report a meaningful mix. The broad pattern — B1 as the dominant outcome — holds across cohorts.
How Long the Traject Takes
For the people who have met the obligation, CBS also records how long their traject (the integration trajectory) took. The standard integration clock is three years, and most finishers came in under it. The table shows the duration among those who have met the obligation.
| Time to meet the obligation | People (voldaan) | Share of finishers |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 2 years | ~3,040 | ~30% |
| 2 to 3 years | ~6,000 | ~60% |
| 3 years or more | ~890 | ~9% |
About 60% of finishers met the obligation in two to three years, and roughly 9 in 10 finished within three years. There is a survivorship effect here: people still working on their integration at the end of 2025 are not in this table, and a slower finisher who completes in 2026 or later will only show up in a future refresh. Among those still busy, about 3% had already been integrating for three years or more by the end of 2025.
How Few Have Finished So Far
The headline level figures rest on a small base, and the status data shows why. At the end of 2025, of about 130,600 people ever obligated under Wet inburgering 2021, only around 8% had met the obligation (voldaan) and about 85% were still busy (bezig). The rest were exempt, temporarily exempt, released from the obligation (ontheven), or no longer obligated.
| Status, end 2025 | Approximate share |
|---|---|
| Still busy (bezig) | ~85% |
| Met the obligation (voldaan) | ~8% |
| Temporarily exempt (tijdelijk vrijgesteld) | ~3% |
| Exempt (vrijgesteld) | ~2% |
| No longer obligated | ~3% |
The voldaan share drops sharply by cohort: about 28% of the 2022 cohort had met the obligation by the end of 2025, against roughly 6% of 2023, around 1% of 2024, and essentially none of 2025. That is exactly what you would expect when the clock has barely started for the newer cohorts — it is not a sign that integration is failing, but a sign that the data is young.
The same youth shows up in exam progress among the still-busy group: about 88% of people still integrating had passed no language exams yet at the end of 2025. Most have simply not reached the exam stage, not failed it.
What This Means If You Are Integrating
These statistics describe the people who have finished so far, not a target you have to hit. The level you need is set by your learning route (leerroute) in your personal integration plan (PIP), not by these averages. If most finishers landed at B1, that reflects the B1-route being the default, not a hidden bar you must clear. The most useful takeaway is realistic expectation-setting: B1 is the common finishing level, a meaningful minority finish at A2, and most people who complete do so within three years.
To work out your own path, start with which Dutch exam you need, check how routes are assigned in our route-assignment statistics, and if you are aiming for B2, read the Staatsexamen NT2 complete guide.
Official Sources
Official source checked: June 2026.
- CBS Statistiek Wet inburgering (SWI) dashboard - CBS dashboard on the obligated population, learning routes, the personal integration plan (PIP), and exam progress under Wet inburgering 2021. Each chart has a "Download CSV" option; figures cover the period through December 2025 (preliminary) and are rounded to the nearest five.
- Rijksoverheid: Wet inburgering 2021 - Government overview of the 2021 integration law: the three learning routes, the role of municipalities, and the personal integration plan (PIP).
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