Dutch Society

The Netherlands is a melting pot of different religions and ethnicities, which come together to make a colourful and diverse society. There are around (2009 estimate) 16,493,156 Dutch or ‘Nederlanders’ (meaning Lowlanders) accroding to the Central Statistics Bureau.

Ethnic make-up

Holland’s colonial ties have attracted people from Surinam, in South America, and Indonesia to our shores. Many people from Morocco and Turkey also came here in the 60’s as labourers.

Religion

The largest religious groups are Protestant and Roman Catholic. But more than one third of the Dutch don’t follow any particular denomination. Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are all growing in The Netherlands.

Language

The native tongue, of course, is Dutch – originally a Germanic language. Spoken by around 21 million Dutch and Flemish people, it is one of the 11 official European Union languages.

But you’ll find that many people can speak at least two foreign languages – nearly everyone can understand or speak some English, or German, or French. A growing number of courses are also taught in English.

Frisian - another Germanic language - is spoken in Friesland, one of the northern provinces.