Native Dutch Unhappy With Neighbourhoods

Native Dutch residents in neighbourhoods where the majority of the population is from non-western background are less pleased about the population composition than their neighbours of immigrant background.

Figures published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on Monday indicate that 44 percent of native Dutch in these neighbourhoods were satisfied in 2006 with the ethnic composition of their neighbourhood. Some 62 percent of the residents of non-western background were pleased.

Ninety-one percent of native Dutch living in neighbourhoods where less than five percent of the population are of non-western background were pleased with the composition of the neighbourhood, while 78 percent of these non-westerners themselves were pleased with the composition in these areas.

Mixed neighbourhoods (5 to 50 percent of residents from ethnic minority background) lead to a relatively high level of satisfaction among both native Dutch and ethnic minority residents: 80 of residents in these neighbourhoods thought the composition of the neighbourhoods was favourable.