Nearly 9,000 asylum seekers under twelve in 2016

© ANP
In 2016, 31.2 thousand asylum seekers and family members arrived in the Netherlands. This included almost 4 thousand under the age of five; 4.6 thousand were of primary school age, as reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
Two-thirds of the primary school age children and about half of the youngest children were following family members of asylum seekers already living in the Netherlands. The largest group of asylum seekers (12.7 thousand individuals) were in the age category 18-34. The majority had submitted asylum requests, 22 percent were following relatives.

More than half of children from Syria

Nearly half of children under the age of five and 56 percent of 5 to 11-year-olds were Syrian nationals: more than 1,900 young children and nearly 2,600 children in primary school age. There were 350 children under the age of five and four hundred aged 5-11 from Eritrea. Additionally, more than 500 children under the age of 12 were stateless, mainly Palestinians from Syria.

Half as many asylum seekers as in 2015

In 2016, the number of people submitting a first request for asylum stood at 19.4 thousand, less than half the total in 2015. Figures over 2016 also include relocated asylum seekers from Greece and Italy.
With 11.8 thousand, the number of following relatives is only just below the 13.8 thousand registered in 2015. A large majority were relatives of Syrian nationals who had applied for asylum in the latter half of 2015.

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