First child in the Netherlands

On average, women in the Caribbean Netherlands get their first child at the age of 25.2 years. This is much earlier than women in the European Netherlands, where the average age for the first child is 29.4 years. Women of Antillean background in the European Netherlands are the first time mothers slightly later (25.9 years) than their peers in the Caribbean Netherlands.

In the Caribbean Netherlands 10% of the births are with teenage mothers. This differs significantly from the rest of the Netherlands (1.3%). Women of Antillean origin in the European Netherlands (6.8%) are in between. It seems that the number of teenage births among women of Antillean background in the Netherlands gradually adapts to that of all women in the Netherlands. The percentages vary by island in the Caribbean Netherlands: on St. Eustatius, this more than on the other two islands.

In the Caribbean Netherlands women get their first child at a younger age than women in European Netherlands and are more often single. Women of Antillean origin living in the European Netherlands are a little later for the first time parent than women in the Caribbean Netherlands.

More than a third of the children born in 2012 in the Caribbean Netherlands, lived in a single parent household, usually a single mother. More than a third was raised by a married couple. Of the live births in the Netherlands from a mother of Antillean background also over one third lives in a single parent household. Overall, for the Netherlands, this proportion is much lower (8%).

Source CBS