Posted on August 1, 2006

Over Half Of Youth In Big Cities Are Non-native

Expatica.com, July 31, 2006

Amsterdam — Over half the young people in Amsterdam and Rotterdam come from a non-western background, according a new report by Statistics Netherlands.

Known as the CBS in Dutch, the bureau said that while the number of non-western first-generation residents has been decreasing slowly since 2004, the second generation continues to grow.

One in three residents of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague come from a non-western background. That is far greater than elsewhere in the Netherlands. Of the 16.3 million Dutch population, almost 11 percent come from a non-western background.

The amount of immigrants from outside Western Europe has risen sharply in

Rotterdam and The Hague particularly in the last 10 years. The number of first generation immigrants in Amsterdam and Rotterdam has declined recently because immigration is down while emigration is increasing, the CBS said.

The bureau explained the rise in second generation immigrants by saying many non-western residents are now in the “family phase”.

Amsterdam has the most young immigrants, younger than 21. They make up about 55 percent of the total, followed by Rotterdam. The figure in The Hague is just under 50 percent.