Save Emigration Out of Discontent? Are the Netherlands Emptying?

Save Emigration Out of Discontent? Are the Netherlands Emptying?

Emigration rose sharply to a record 142,772. Immigration fell to 155,701 in 2012. This is clear from the provisional CBS migration figures for the past year released today. In this article, we take a closer look at today’s CBS figures and questionable reports from De Telegraaf – and other media – earlier this year. The conclusion is that De Telegraaf invented everything she wrote and that the Daily Standard blog (and others) goes further.

introduction
“The Dutch are emigrating en masse” headlined De Telegraaf on 21 January, which had apparently already received the total figure from Statistics Netherlands (which turns out not to be true afterwards). “In 2012, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 395 people left our country every day out of dissatisfaction with the political climate, the dramatic consequences of the economic crisis and the hardening of society,” the Wakker Nederland newspaper continues. “A total of 144,175 have definitely left,” Spitsnieuws writes. “CBS: more dissatisfied Dutch people are emigrating,” Elsevier reports, based on Telegraaf’s article. Of course, the Reformed will not be left behind. Some blogs go even further: “More and more hard-working and productive Dutch people are turning their backs on their homeland,” the blog explains.
The title in the paper version on the first page (!) From The Telegraaf is:

The Netherlands is emptying
Almost all the reactions to the sites clearly show it: Henk and Ingrid leave en masse (and of course, there are only people without hope in return, but De Telegraaf does not talk about it), but what really happens?

You can see immigration and emigration in different ways, as I explained in this blog. So you can use a Dutchman in two ways: a resident of the Netherlands or someone of Dutch nationality. The following statement is therefore correct: as of 1 January 2012, 786,057 Dutch people were not Dutch. The law often means Dutch native Dutch – and that is how the majority of respondents understand the article, but in that sense you will never see figures from Statistics Netherlands. If all goes well, you should immediately specify whether you are talking about Dutch nationality or residents of the Netherlands. Are the new figures by nationality or group of origin? No, these are numbers on the country of birth. The country of birth says nothing about a person’s nationality and, if you were born abroad, you only have to deal with the group of origin if the migrant has at least one foreign-born relative: after all, the migrant is (1st generation) immigrant. If you are talking about Dutch emigrants, you should talk about residents of the Netherlands and this may also include foreigners (not in Dutch nationality) and immigrants.

Each month, Statistics Netherlands publishes provisional figures on this migration to the country of birth. Here is the table with all the annual figures. Usually, the final numbers do not come until May. The total numbers will probably not change, but the details will change. According to the original group, there are currently only figures until 2010 included, but Statistics Netherlands said something about it in an explanation, including later.

First, let’s take a closer look at the new numbers.

Total migration
Figure 1 shows total migration from 1995.
Immigration fell significantly in 2012, from 163,000 in 2011 to 156.00 in 2012, a decrease of 4%. This figure of 163,000 was a record in 2011. Emigration, shown in negative figures, increased from 133,000 in 2011 to 143,000 in 2012, an increase of 7%. Emigration has never been greater.
The net migration, the red line, was 30,000 in 2011, rising to 13,000 in 2012 due to lower immigration and increased emigration. A decrease of 57%. The increase in emigration was expected due to the increase in immigration in recent years and the economic crisis.
In any case, the figures show that there is no question of a period of inactivity in the Netherlands, as De Telegraaf claims: this century, 1,659,000 immigrated until 2012, 1,475,000 emigrated and this gives a net migration balance (net immigration). 184,000. This represents an average of 128,000 immigrants per year, 113,000 emigrants and a balance of 14,000.

Back to the table of materials

Migration broken down by continent.
As Figure 2a shows, the largest contingent of immigrants comes from the countries of origin of Europe and the Netherlands themselves (the latter have emigrated before). In 2012, 27,000, 18% of immigrants were born in the Netherlands. In 2011, this immigration was still 28,500.

Uit de rest van Europa kwam in 2012 met 75,000 zielen bijna de helft van alle immigranten en dat is wat minder dan 2011. Uit geheel Europa komt dus tegenwoordig 2/3 van alle immigranten. Uit Azio komen de laatste jaren veel immigranten om te studeren en te werken (kennismigranten). De immigratie uit Afrika is weer fors aan het dalen na de piek in 2009 carries Somalische asielzoekers. Opgemerkt moet dus worden dat er dus blijkbaar geen spoor is te zien van de door onheilsprofeten voorspelde massa-edia uit Afrika, mede dankzij de Arabische Lente. De twee landen waar de meeste immigranten uit Amerika vandaan komen zijn de VS en de (voormalige) Nederlandse Antillen, maar ook de immigratie uit Amerika is iets gedaald. Voor de volledigheid ook Oceani erbij gezet, maar de immigratie van mensen geboren in Nieuw Zeeland, Australia en enkele andere landen uit die regio is met 1,300 niet groot.

Emigration (Figure 2B) of people born in the Netherlands decreased significantly after the 2006 peak of 59,000 and increased slightly in 2011 to 46,000. That fell by another 1,500 last year.

Emigration from the rest of Europe has increased sharply and now exceeds that of those born in the Netherlands. The emigration of Africans increased slightly and the people born on the American continent also left more. The number of emigrants born in Asia in 2011 was 17,500 and remained about the same.

In short: the emigration of all the above groups has increased or remained the same, with the exception of those born in the Netherlands.

Unsurprisingly, the number of people born in the Netherlands is negative, so more people have left than have returned. As immigration decreased more than emigration, the balance decreased slightly in 2012: -18,300 In 2011, it was still -17,500. In 2006, this net emigration was still 36,000.

As a result of increased emigration from the rest of Europe, their balance fell sharply to about 21,000, or 9,000 less. Africa’s net migration has also declined significantly, reaching about 1,000 in 2012. That was over 4,000. The balance from America and Asia also decreased slightly.

The conclusion we can draw from these figures is that emigration has increased because more foreign-born people have left. Almost all of these immigrants are immigrants. The following two sections deepen the group born in the Netherlands.