There is a small community of Nigerians in the Netherlands, which began to grow in the late 1980s.

Migration history

The earliest Nigerian asylum-seekers came to the Netherlands in 1987. As of 2006, the primary modes of migration of Nigerians are for marriage, work or study. Many of the Nigerians in the Netherlands for training are employees of

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

. There is also some circular migration between Nigerians in the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands. One study, based on the cohort arriving in 1998, estimated that 25% of Nigerians who arrive in the Netherlands leave after four years. Nigerians point to the relative difficulty of finding work or starting businesses as a major driver for onward migration to the United Kingdom.

Demographic characteristics

, statistics of the Dutch

Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek Statistics Netherlands, founded in 1899, is a Dutch governmental institution that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands. In Dutch it is known as the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (''Central Agency for Statistics''), often ...

with regards to people of Nigerian origin showed: *5,283 persons of first-generation background (3,037 men, 2,246 women) *4,170 persons of second-generation background (2,110 men, 2,060 women), of which: **2,969 persons with one parent born in the Netherlands (1,507 men, 1,462 women) **1,201 persons with both parents born outside the Netherlands (603 men, 598 women) For a total of 9,453 persons (5,147 men, 4,306 women). This represented roughly three times the 1996 total of 3,136 persons. The population has shown a year-on-year increase every year since then. The proportion of second-generation Nigerians born in the Netherlands has also shown a consistent rise since 1996. The majority of Nigerian adults in the Netherlands are married, have children, and live in families, rather than alone.

Employment

Nigerians have a relatively low unemployment rate compared to other migrant groups, as a result of the fact that most migrated for marriage or specifically for employment purposes, rather than as asylum-seekers. There are an estimated 500 Nigerians holding Dutch passports working for large Dutch and international organisations such as

ABN AMRO ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizat ...

, Nike, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, the former CMG Consulting, IBM Global Services,

Celtel Celtel was a telecommunications company that operated in several African countries. It was founded by Sudanese-born Mo Ibrahim. History Originally known as "MSI Cellular Investments", the company began operating in 1998. In January 2004, the ...

, Orange, Ingram Micro, KPN, and the trade unions federation FNV. However, many migrants complain that it is difficult to find work commensurate with their qualifications, and that companies impose Dutch-language requirements for even unskilled work such as cleaning.

Notable individuals

Arnaut Danjuma Arnaut Danjuma Groeneveld (born 31 January 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for La Liga club Villarreal and the Netherlands national team. After making one substitute appearance for Jong PSV in the Eerste Divisie, he p ...

* Joshua Zirkzee

References

Notes

Sources

* * * {{Portal bar, Netherlands, Nigeria African diaspora in the Netherlands Ethnic groups in the Netherlands

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