Advocates for immigration need a little Dutch courage.

Last November, the far-right in the Netherlands won a thumping electoral victory, propelling the Party for Freedom into first place. Led by the firebrand Geert Wilders (who was deemed too extreme to be Prime Minister despite his MPs joining a coalition government), his party has made its mark with the recent publication of the strictest immigration laws in the country's history - and a request to opt out of the EU's migration and asylum rules "as soon as possible".

Enter an organisation called Statistics Netherlands - their equivalent of the Irish CSO- which in the summer published a rather dry analysis of the Dutch population. It stated, in a nutshell, that fewer Dutch babies were being born and as result too many Dutch pensioners would, by 2040, be relying on too few people of working age to pay their pensions.

The answer to this problem? Three million more immigrants. It made this assertion in completely apolitical, analytical language. It did so at a time of heightened political rhetoric and hate speech. Talk about brave. Wilders was reportedly fuming.

Notably, the report stated "In almost all other European countries, the average birth rate has also declined and now stands below the replacement level".

Those who advocate for immigration could learn a lot from those Dutch boffins.

Throughout the developed world, the narrative is of an immigration "crisis". The data suggests we, in reality, have a population crisis. Unless we attract immigrants and find places to house them, we face a demographic timebomb that could impoverish most of our elderly, not to mention see the collapse of public services and many parts of the service economy.

Those of us lucky enough to have been born in a rich country are dying more than we are being born- and unless the birth rate soars (hint; it won't) we need to bring people to our shores to work hard and make a life for themselves.

All of this dry, econometric data ignores the ample evidence that immigration makes a hugely positive impact on culture, music, language, the arts and, of course, food. So, if the statistics don't convince you, let your tastebuds. Chicken tikka masala was invented by the South Asian immigrant community of Glasgow.

Imagine a world without that.