Where do immigrants live in the Netherlands?

In 2001 there were 1.5 million non-western immigrants in the Netherlands. Since 1998 the proportion of this group in the total population rose by 1.1 percent points to 9.3 percent.

Most immigrants in Amsterdam

The immigrant population is unevenly distributed across the Netherlands. Relatively most of them live in the four large cities. Amsterdam houses most: nearly one third of people living in Amsterdam have a non-western foreign background.

Top ten municipalities with the largest proportion of non-western immigrants, 1 January 2000

Distribution within the municipality

Not only is the distribution between municipalities unequal, within the municipal borders, too, there are differences in the concentration of immigrants households. These are measured by means of the segregation index.

Segregation of non-western immigrants in the four large cities, 1 January 2000

In some municipalities people with a foreign background nearly exclusively live in certain districts. In The Hague in particular there are large differences between neighbourhoods with a very high percentage of immigrants, and others with a low percentage. In Ede and Leeuwarden, too, cities with relatively few immigrants, immigrants live close together in certain districts, while hardly any live in other parts of the city.

In Utrecht and Amsterdam non-western immigrant households are spread more across the city than in Rotterdam and The Hague. In Almere, a municipality with relatively many non-western immigrants, this group is spread reasonably evenly across the municipality.

Mila van Huis