Netherlands counts 64,000 registered Syrian residents

On September 1st a total of 64 thousand Syrian people were registered as a resident of a Dutch municipality, Statistics Netherlands said on Wednesday. Most of them were part of the massive influx of asylum seekers in 2014 and 2015. Refugees with a residency permit or asylum seekers that have stayed in asylum centers for at least 6 months, may register in a Dutch municipality. At 64 thousand, Syrians make up nearly 0.4 percent of the Dutch population. 49 thousand of them came to the Netherlands between 2014 and September 1st. They live spread throughout the Netherlands. In absolute numbers, Amsterdam has the most residents with a Syrian background at 1,414. Rotterdam comes in second place with 1,263 and Utrecht in third with 963. In relation to population size, municipalities with asylum centers house the most Syrians. The asylum seekers registered in those municipalities are often still waiting for housing elsewhere. In Cranendonck, which covers the Budel-Cranendonck asylum center, 1.6 percent of the population are of Syrian descent. In Noordenveld, which covers the Veenhuizen center, it is 1.2 percent. About a fifth of the 49 thousand recently arrived Syrians were still living in a for of asylum shelter on September 1st. About 7 thousand are still living in an asylum center and another 2 thousand at an address with 10 or more other Syrians.