immigration

Dutch people are increasingly concerned about the society and the way people in the Netherlands treat each other, as well as about the economy, according to the quarterly report on the mood in the Netherlands by social and cultural planning office SCP, the Volkskrant reports.

According to the SCP,  35 percent of Dutch are concerned about the way people are living together in the Netherlands, with some saying they experience a growing intolerance. The same percentage are concerned about immigration and integration, and 31 percent are concerned about the economy.

Voter turnout was up substantially in the country's provincial election on Wednesday, compared with turnout in 2015. Some 57.9 percent of eligible voters showed up at polling places, up from 47.8 percent four years earlier, according to RTL Nieuws.

On Tuesday evening the 13 political party leaders responded to the shooting in Utrecht, in which three people were killed and three seriously injured, at the start of the last political debate before the Provincial States elections on Wednesday. PVV leader Geert Wilders and FvD leader Thierry Baudet decided to use their moment to blame the attack on Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) and CDA leader Sybrand Buma, linking the shooting to the Netherlands' immigration and integration policy, NOS reports.

Dutch people often misjudge important facts about the Netherlands. The Dutch population's perception about immigration, unemployment and climate change figures, among others, is far wrong, according to the study Perils of Perception by Ipsos. The research agency interviewed citizens from 37 countries. In none of the countries did the citizens estimate figures correctly, RTL Nieuws reports.

In the first half of this year the Netherlands population grew by 32 thousand people, compared to 35 thousand in the first half of last year. This slower growth can be attributed to the flu epidemic in the country in the first months of 2018, Statistics Netherlands reported on Tuesday. The Netherlands currently has 17.2 million inhabitants.

People in the Netherlands want the new Dutch government to give top priority to healthcare, according to social and cultural planning office SCP's quarterly survey of what Dutch think about the country. "45 percent of respondents put healthcare on number one", SCP spokesperson Josje den Ridder said to NOS. 

The number of children in the Netherlands growing up in a family that receives welfare benefits increased by 2.1 percent to a total of 230 thousand last year, Statistics Netherlands reported on Friday. This number increased every year since 2012. 

More than two thirds of children who lived on welfare last year had an immigration background. Half of this group fall under the "other non-western category", compared to 39 percent in 2012. In this category the stats office includes all non-western countries except Morocco, Suriname, Turkey, Aruba and the former Dutch Antilles. 

Dutch judges rarely retract the residency permits of immigrants with a criminal record, despite a change in legislation in 2012 that makes it easier to do so, the Volkskrant reports.

Family reunification is still the main reason for immigrants to come to the Netherlands, according to Statistics Netherlands. Even at the peak of the asylum crisis in 2015, there were twice as many family reunification immigrants as asylum seekers given a residency permit, the statistics office said on Monday based on new figures.

In 2015 a total of 159 thousand immigrants moved to the Netherlands. A third of them came to join a family member already living in the Netherlands. The rest came to the Netherlands for work, studies or to apply for asylum. 

There are many problems with the integration exam immigrants have to pass if they want to get their Dutch passport, language schools, teachers of Dutch as a second language ant the NT2 professional association said to newspaper Trouw. This results in many immigrants struggling to integrate into Dutch society, according to the language teachers.

The people of the Netherlands aren't very optimistic about society and the future of the country, according a quarterly report by social and cultural planning office SCP. The Dutch are mostly concerned about immigration, integration, intolerance and that society is growing harsher. They are positive about the economy however, RTL Nieuws.

The SCP did this survey early this year, before the parliamentary election on March 15th.