A sixth of Dutch couples are interracial: statistics office

Nearly 659 thousand of the 4.2 million couples in the Netherlands are mixed race couples, according to Statistics Netherlands. That means that about one in six couples in the Netherlands consist of a Dutch partner and a partner from a different background.

According to the statistics office, the number of interracial couples varies widely based on ethnicity For example, most couples with Turkish or Moroccan backgrounds are in relationships with persons of their own ethnicity. Only about 10 thousand couples in the Netherlands consist of a Turkish partner and a Dutch partner, and about 9 thousand couples are Moroccan Dutch That means that 11 percent of Turkish people in the Netherlands have a Dutch partner and 12 percent of Moroccan people. Most of these couples consist of a Dutch woman and a Moroccan or Turkish man.

While people with an Indonesian background seems more willing to partner up with someone of a different race or culture. Most of the mixed couples in the Netherlands are Indonesian-Dutch with 160 thousand, German-Dutch comes in second place with 154 thousand and Belgian-Dutch in third with 44 thousand. That means that 85 percent of Indonesians in the country are in a relationship with a Dutch partner, almost 89 percent of Germans and almost 87 percent of Belgians.