Integration monitor 2006

The Integration monitor describes the position of population groups with a foreign background in various areas of society, in the Netherlands and how this has developed in time. This survey is carried out in collaboration with the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice (WODC) , at the request of the minister responsible for foreign nationals and integration.

On the basis of a series of indicators the two-yearly Integration monitor describes how the integration of groups with a foreign background is developing in the area of, among other things, education, labour market and social contacts. Information for this purpose is taken from Statistics Netherlands’ Social statistics database (SSB).

The SSB contains a large number of registers which are linked at the level of the individual to the municipal population registration. For all inhabitants in the Netherlands it contains data on demographic characteristics, work, benefits, income, education and reason for migration. It therefore also gives the possibility of describing relationships between these areas. As information is available for a number of years, it is possible to monitor developments in time.

In a number of respects, the Integration monitor uses new approaches to measure integration in the Netherlands:

·  Because the SSB is used it is possible to breakdown the information by country of origin. In addition to a description of the ‘top four’ (Turkey, Morocco, Suriname, and Netherlands Antilles/Aruba), it shows how smaller immigrant populations are participating in Dutch society;

·  In addition, the longitudinal data provide an insight into the developments in integration across a longer period of time and in different areas of society. This can be realised by monitoring cohorts of newcomers through the years;

·  The Integration monitor is based on actual behaviour and actual social positions of individuals, not on their attitudes, perceptions, subjective experiences and opinions.

This article refers mainly to data on  2004 that have not been corrected for background  characteristics such as age and sex. In the Monitor, these data are corrected.