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When inhabitants of the Caribbean Netherlands complain that they feel Dutch people are swamping their islands they are partially right; more than 3,000 persons moved from the Netherlands to Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba in the past fi ve years.
Between 2010, the year that the islands became Dutch public entities, and 2014 some 3,400 persons of the Netherlands moved to one of the three Caribbean Netherlands islands, the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) announced on Tuesday. But, because a number of Dutch persons also left the islands, the migration balance from the Netherlands amounted to close to 1,000. In the past fi ve years, a total of 2,500 persons moved from the Caribbean Netherlands to the Netherlands.
Dutch native persons most often migrated to the islands, almost 800 more than the other way around. The Caribbean Netherlands is especially popular among Dutch native persons in the age bracket 20 to 30.
There was also a relatively large number of persons in their 40s who moved to the Caribbean Netherlands. Among the immigrants were not only native Dutch people, but also persons of Dutch Caribbean descent who moved from the Netherlands to the islands.
The population of the three islands combined increased by almost 3,800 between 2010 and 2014. The increase was mostly due to the positive migration balance from the Netherlands, and to a lesser extent because of the number of births. Migration from Latin America, the United States and Canada also contributed to the population growth.
CBS further announced that in the past fi ve years 16,000 persons born in Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten left their islands to take up residency in the Netherlands. Some 11,500 persons left the Netherlands to return to their island between 2010 and 2014.
Mostly teenagers and people in their 20s of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten moved to the Netherlands to further their studies there. More Dutch Caribbean persons of the second generation who were born in the Netherlands and Dutch native persons moved to the countries than the other way around.
The Daily Herald.