Non-native population

Statistics Netherlands defines a person as having a non-native background, if at least one of his/her parents was born abroad.

The category ‘non-western’ includes people from Turkey, Africa, Latin America and Asia, excluding the former Dutch East Indies/Indonesia and Japan. On account of their socio-economic and socio-cultural position, people from these two countries are included in the category ‘western’. It mainly concerns people born in the former Dutch East Indies and persons employed by Japanese companies and their families.
All other persons not born in the Netherlands are included in the category ‘western’.

The first generation of people with a non-native background consists of people who themselves were born abroad, the second generation consists of people of whom at least one parent was born abroad. A person who was born abroad, but whose parents were both born in the Netherlands is included in the category ‘native Dutch’. 

The first generation is determined by their country of birth, the second generation by the country of birth of the mother (and, if the mother was born in the Netherlands, the country of birth of the father).