Nearly 900 thousand Muslims in the Netherlands

On 1 January 2002 there were 890 thousand Muslims in the Netherlands, 260 thousand more than in 1995. The number of Hindus was 95 thousand, 13 thousand more than in 1995. The strong increase in the number of Muslims and Hindus is connected with the increase of people with a non-western foreign background living in the Netherlands.

Muslims and Hindus account for 6 percent of the population

Muslims accounted for 5.5 percent of the total population in the Netherlands on 1 January 2002, Hindus for 0.6 percent. The share in the population will rise further in the coming years. For Muslims, the one million mark is expected to be reached around 1 January 2005, and the number of Hindus will reach 100 thousand in the course of 2004. Op 1 January 2005, Muslims and Hindus will constitute nearly 7 percent of the population in the Netherlands.

Muslims and Hindus in the Netherlands, 1 January

Most Muslims and Hindus have non-western background

Although more than 90 percent of Muslims and Hindus have a non-western background, this does not mean that the majority of non-western foreigners in the Netherlands are Hindus and Muslims. Some 54 percent of people with a non-western background in the Netherlands are Muslims, and around 6 percent are Hindus.

Muslims from Turkey and Morocco, Hindus from Surinam

The largest group of Muslims are of Turkish descent: nearly 310 thousand. The second largest group comes from Morocco, 275 thousand. Together they account for two-thirds of the total number of Muslims in the Netherlands. Most Hindus come from Surinam: nearly 85 percent. Another 10 percent have an Indian background.

Muslims and Hindus by country of origin, 1 January 2002

Second generation growing

The number of Muslims and Hindus is not only increasing through immigration, but also because people with a non-western background in the Netherlands have children here. Thirty-seven percent of non-western Muslims in the Netherlands on 1 January 2002 belonged to the second generation. For non-western Hindus this was 38 percent.

Share of second generation among non-western Muslims and Hindus, 1 January

As the number of second generation foreigners has risen in the Netherlands, the share of second generation Muslims and Hindus has also increased in the last six years.

Ron Tas