4. The new classification: ‘born in the Netherlands or abroad’ and ‘country of origin’

The new classification by origin consists of two elements: ‘born in the Netherlands or abroad’ and ‘country of origin’. Migrants are born abroad, and the children of migrants are born in the Netherlands and have at least one foreign-born parent. The person’s country of origin and that of their children are then specified at different levels according to continent and whether or not the country is a traditional country of emigration (i.e. a country with strong ties to the Netherlands based on a colonial history or labour migration including following relatives).

4.1 Born in the Netherlands or abroad

The new population classification focuses on whether a resident was born in the Netherlands or abroad. The second step is to look at the parents’ country of birth: the Netherlands or another country.

These considerations result in the following categories with regard to the classifications:

1. Born in the Netherlands
   a. Two parents born in the Netherlands
   b. One parent born in the Netherlands and one abroad
   c. Two parents born abroad
2. Born abroad
   a. Two parents born in the Netherlands
   b. One parent born in the Netherlands and one abroad
   c. Two parents born abroad

Due to the small numbers, it will not always be possible to specify the parents’ country of birth within the category ‘born abroad’ (90 percent have two parents born abroad). In the category ‘born in the Netherlands’, the largest group (87 percent) have two parents born in the Netherlands, but the number with at least one parent born abroad is also significant: two million in absolute numbers (see also 5.1). If it is not possible to make a specific distinction between people with one or two foreign-born parents, categories 1b and 1c may be combined in the category ‘at least one foreign-born parent’.

When we write about these groups, we are referring to:

• People with the Netherlands as their country of origin (category 1a)
• Migrants (category 2)
• Children of migrants (categories 1b and 1c)
• Migrants and their children (categories 1b, 1c and 2)

Difference between ‘Born in the Netherlands or abroad’ as opposed to ‘Migration background and generation’

The new classification according to the categories ‘born in the Netherlands’ or ‘born abroad’ largely corresponds to the former classification based on migration background and generation (Table 4.1). The only difference concerns the category of people born abroad who have two parents born in the Netherlands. In the new classification their country of origin is outside the Netherlands; in the old classification it was not. This group accounts for less than 1 percent of the population (138,000 people on 1 January 2021, see Table 5.1.1) and includes foreign-born children of parents who emigrated (e.g. expats or Dutch nationals living in the border regions of Belgium or Germany) who later relocated to the Netherlands. It may also include ‘incidental births abroad’: cases in which the child was born in a foreign hospital although the parents were residents of the Netherlands at the time. Because their country of birth outside the Netherlands is registered in the Personal Records Database, they will therefore be classified as ‘born abroad’ and belong to the group with a country of origin outside the Netherlands. See Figure 4.2 below for an overview of the new classification according to the distinction between ‘born in the Netherlands’ and ‘born abroad’.

4.2 Country of origin based on continents

CBS has decided to adopt a classification for country of origin based on continents. This decision largely meets the underlying principles that the categories used should be as neutral as possible, easy to understand and as consistent as possible over time.

4.2.1 Four levels

The classification by country of origin consists of several levels, starting with a three-way division into the Netherlands, Europe and Outside Europe, down to a classification by individual country. This classification is explained in greater detail in the following sections.

• Level 1: The Netherlands, Europe (excluding the Netherlands), Outside Europe
• Level 2: Outside Europe consists of two categories: traditional countries of origin (Turkey, Morocco, Suriname, Indonesia and the Dutch Caribbean) and Other – Outside Europe
• Level 3: Other – Outside Europe is made up of the following categories: Other – Africa, Other – Asia, and Other – Americas and Oceania
• Level 4: individual countries

4.2.2 Definition of continents for country of origin classification

Europe as a category includes Russia, but excludes the Netherlands, Turkey, Armenia and Georgia. In defining continents for its country of origin classification, CBS initially used the United Nations classification of countries by continent (UNStats, 2021). The only exception was Cyprus, which the UN assigns to Asia. Given Cyprus’s long history of cultural and political ties with Europe (Cyprus is part of the EU), CBS has decided to classify Cyprus as part of Europe. Some countries span more than one continent. Russia and Turkey are the most notable examples: both are partly in Europe and partly in Asia. As a result, these countries are handled differently by different agencies. For example, the United Nations classifies Turkey as part of Asia, while Eurostat includes Turkey in its statistics on Europe (Eurostat, 2021). Given that a country can be assigned to only one continent, CBS has chosen to do so on the basis of where the majority of its inhabitants live. As most of Russia’s population lives in the European part of the country, CBS has assigned it to Europe. The great majority of Turkey’s population lives in the Asian part of the country, hence Turkey’s classification as Asian.

The new classification puts Oceania in an ‘Other’ category with the Americas. At 32,000, the number of migrants and children of migrants with Oceanic origins is so small that in many statistical analyses, it will not be possible to publish separate figures for Oceania. Due to its geographical location and because residents with American origins also constitute a relatively small group in the Netherlands (226,000 people), it was decided to create the combined category ‘Other – Americas and Oceania’.

4.2.3 Traditional countries of origin

An important element in the new classification is the creation of a separate category ‘traditional countries of origin’, which takes in Turkey, Morocco, Suriname, the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Curaçao, St Maarten, Bonaire, St Eustatius, Saba) and Indonesia. The designation ‘Dutch Caribbean’ replaces the term ‘(former) Netherlands Antilles and Aruba’.

In addition to the historically strong migration ties that these countries have with the Netherlands, there is a more practical reason for grouping these countries in a separate category instead of categorising them with the other countries from the same continent. This has to do with the relatively large number of migrants and children of immigrants with one of these countries as their country of origin, compared to the number for other countries on the same continent. In 2021, over 1.7 million residents of the Netherlands (either migrants or the children of migrants) had one of the traditional countries of origin, compared to under 1.3 million residents with a country of origin outside Europe and outside one of the traditional countries of origin (Table 5.2). In other words, if the traditional countries of origin were counted as part of the continent to which they belong, they would dominate the figures to such an extent that it could easily skew the statistical analysis. By way of example, over 400,000 migrants and children of migrants in the Netherlands have Morocco as their country of origin; unless considered as part of a separate category, they would account for almost 60 percent of all persons in the Netherlands of African origin. Similarly, people with Turkey or Indonesia as their country of origin would account for over half of all migrants and the children of migrants in the Netherlands with Asian origins. When it comes to the Americas and Oceania, two-thirds would be of Surinamese or Dutch Caribbean origin. Among migrants and their children of European origin, the dominance of a small number of countries is less of a factor. Many of the twenty countries with the highest number of migrants or children of migrants in the Netherlands are European, so more than a few countries account for a significant proportion of the outcomes for Europe as a continent. For specific statistics and publications, the option of showing these or other countries separately is always available, depending on the research question.

4.2.4 Overview of classification by country of origin

The four-level classification of countries of origin, as a combination of continent and traditional countries of origin, is as follows (see also Figure 4.3):

1. The Netherlands
2. Europe (excluding the Netherlands, Turkey, Armenia and Georgia, and including Russia)
   2.1. Individual countries
3. Outside Europe
   3.1 Turkey
   3.2 Morocco
   3.3 Suriname
   3.4 The Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Curaçao, St Maarten, Bonaire, St Eustatius, Saba)
   3.5 Indonesia
   3.6 Other – Outside Europe
   3.6.1 Other – Africa
   3.6.1.1 Individual countries
   3.6.2 Other – Asia
   3.6.2.1 Individual countries
   3.6.3 Other – Americas and Oceania
   3.6.3.1 Individual countries

4.3 Use of classification in statistics and publications

The aim is always to use classification by country of origin in as much detail as possible. However, the level of detail available depends on the number of observations. Statistics based on administrative data often have a large number of observations, enabling them to be published in greater detail. Statistics based on a small number of observations, which tends to be the case with survey data, often have to publish figures on country of origin at a less detailed level. For statistics with few observations, classification by the Netherlands, Europe, and Outside Europe can be used. When the number of observations allows, this general classification can be specified in terms of traditional countries of migration and continents outside Europe.