Rich and poor Dutch mixing less and less: SCP

The wealthiest and poorest Dutch people mix less and less, mainly encountering people in the same demographic in their neighborhood, at school, or work, the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP) concluded in a new study. The Netherlands isn’t very segregated compared to other European countries, but living environments have become more one-sided in the past ten years, the researchers found.

Prosperous Dutch increasingly live in a bubble with other high-earners, especially in Eindhoven and the northern Randstad. Bloemendaal, Heemstede, and Laren stand out in this regard. According to the SCP, this is partly due to the sharp increase in home prices. Homeowners have become richer, and the region has become less accessible to people with smaller budgets.

Low-income earners in the city tend to end up in their own bubbles more than those living elsewhere. The researchers also found the same in several clusters of municipalities in the east of Groningen, the southern Randstad, and Zuid-Limburg. In the studied period (2011 to 2020), “poor people in particular saw a further decline in prosperity in their neighborhood,” the SCP said. “During this period, the government did less to improve vulnerable neighborhoods, and the role of housing associations became smaller.”

The planning agency is concerned about the increasing segregation in Dutch society. According to the SCP, it goes hand-in-hand with unequal opportunities and hinders social cohesion and mutual understanding.

There are opportunities to encourage rich and poor people to mix with each other more often, Lotte Vermeij of the SCP said. “Including in the field of housing. The renewed attention to improving neighborhoods is an example of this. It is not just about the question of who lives where, but also about how people can meet each other. It requires an attractive public space, widely accessible public facilities, and a connecting association life.”

“Another place where there are opportunities to promote more shared living environments is the workplace,” Vermeij said. “For many people, work has a central place in their lives. How we have organized work now ensures that different groups of employees rarely or never meet each other.”