Most foreign babies born in big cities

In 2002, 33 thousand children born in the Netherlands had at least one parent from a non-western country. This is the equivalent of just over 16 percent of all live born babies in the Netherlands.

Two-thirds of foreign babies born in largest cities

Twenty thousand non-western foreign babies were born in the 25 largest municipalities of the Netherlands; this is 30 percent of all live born babies in the Netherlands. This means that two-thirds of all non-western foreign babies were born in one of the big cities.

Non-western foreign live births in the 25 largest municipalities, 2002

Large differences per municipality

There are large differences between the percentages of non-western foreign births per municipality. Emmen has the smallest percentage (7). In Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague the percentages of non-western babies born are highest: 50 percent of babies born in Rotterdam had at least one non-western parent, in Amsterdam this was 46 percent and in The Hague it was 44 percent.

Non-western foreign live births in the 25 largest municipalities, by ethnic origin, 2002

Most non-western foreign live births in the 25 largest municipalities are children of Moroccan parents. They accounted for 25 percent of non-western foreign births in the Netherlands in 2002. Turkish babies accounted for 20 percent. Surinamese for 14 percent and babies with one or both parents from the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba account for 7 percent.

Highest percentage per municipality

A relatively very high percentage of Moroccan babies were born in the city of Utrecht (51 percent of all non-western babies). Leiden (34 percent) and Ede (34 percent) also had high percentages of Moroccan births. Relatively many Turkish babies were born in Zaanstad (44 percent), Enschede (38 percent) and Apeldoorn (37 percent).

Surinamese babies accounted for relatively many births in Zoetermeer (36 percent) and Almere (33 percent), while Groningen (18 percent), Dordrecht (17 percent) and Tilburg (16 percent) have many babies with one or both parents from the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba.

Ron Tas