Fewer migration marriages

In 2011 a partner moved to the Netherlands to get married in over 8 percent of the marriages involving people with a foreign background. This is slightly less than in the two years before and far less than in 2002. There is a shift among residents with a Turkish or Moroccan background towards marrying someone of the same origin who lives in the Netherlands as well.

1 in 12 a migration marriage

In 2011 there were 33.8 thousand marriages involving people with a foreign background of which 2.8 thousand were migration marriages. This constitutes a share of 8.3 percent. For people with a non-western background the share was 12.3 percent; for people with western foreign background 2.8 percent.

The share of migration marriages in 2011 was slightly lower than in the two years before. In 2002 it was more than 20 percent.

Migration marriages by origin

4 in 5 people of Turkish and Moroccan descend marry someone of the same origin

One in six people of Turkish and Moroccan descend who married in the Netherlands in 2011 married someone who had come over to get married. In 2002 about half of the marriages involving people of Turkish and Moroccan descent were migration marriages. Despite the drop in migration marriages, over 80 percent of the people of Turkish and Moroccan origin marry with someone of the same origin. So there has been a shift from migration marriages to marrying someone of the same origin who already lives in the Netherlands.

Partner choice of people with a foreign background in 2002 and 2011

Highest share of migration marriages among the first generation

At 11 percent, the share of migration marriages is twice as high among the first as among the second generation people with a foreign background who married in the Netherlands.

Also among people of Moroccan descend ,the share of migration marriages among the first generation is more than twice as high, at 23 percent, as among the second generation. The difference is somewhat smaller for people of Turkish origin.

Partner choice of people with a Moroccan background in 2002 and 2011

Suzanne Loozen and Han Nicolaas