At home in the Netherlands

Abstract

The integration of migrants has been exercising minds in the Netherlands for several decades now. The tone of the debate in both the political and public arena has frequently been sombre, reflecting the widespread feeling that large sections of the migrant population, and especially migrants with a Muslim background, had little connection with Dutch society. This report describes the position regarding the integration of migrant groups in the Netherlands and looks in depth at trends in the integration process. Integration is broken down into several dimensions in this report. This means that attention is devoted among other things to trends in education and on the labour market, but also to trends in spatial segregation, crime, interethnic contact, religious behaviour and command of the Dutch language. The picture that emerges is a mixed one. Migrants still lag behind considerably in many areas; at the same time, however, they are making up ground fast on several fronts. Members of the second generation are in many respects the driving force behind the improving position of migrant groups.