English summary
About this publication
This report concerns persons who were required to participate in civic integration programmes in the Netherlands in 2022, 2023 or 2024 under the Civic Integration Act 2021 (Statistics regarding the Civic Integration Act). It differentiates between asylum migrants on the one hand, and family and other migrants on the other hand. A further distinction is made between persons who became subject to the civic integration requirement in 2022, 2023 or 2024, respectively (the 2022, 2023 and 2024 cohorts). The report describes the demographic and educational characteristics of this group, the pre-integration process, housing, regional distribution, the civic integration overseen by the municipalities and labour force participation, from the introduction of the civic integration requirement until the end of 2024. With respect to the 2024 cohort, the results provided in this report are based on provisional figures. This study was conducted in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW).
Summary
This report concerns persons who were required to participate in civic integration programmes in the Netherlands in 2022, 2023 or 2024 under the Civic Integration Act 2021. It differentiates between asylum migrants on the one hand, and family and other migrants on the other hand. The report describes the demographic and educational characteristics of this group, the pre-integration process, housing, regional distribution, the civic integration overseen by the municipalities and labour force participation, from the introduction of the civic integration requirement until the end of 2024.
Population
Demgraphic characteristics
The 2022 cohort consists of 25.9 thousand persons required to participate in civic integration programmes. The other two cohorts contain a higher number. The 2023 cohort numbers 35.6 thousand and the 2024 cohort numbers 36.2 thousand. Approximately three-quarters of the 2022 cohort are asylum migrants (18.7 thousand) and around a quarter are family or other migrants (7.2 thousand). In the 2023 cohort, the share of asylum migrants is lower, at 61 percent (21.9 thousand), and the share of family and other migrants is higher (39 percent, or 13.7 thousand). Asylum migrants are more likely to be men (59 percent in the 2022 cohort; 64 percent in the 2023 cohort; 65 percent in the 2024 cohort) than women, but women make up the majority of family and other migrants (69 percent). Among asylum migrants, the largest number of people required to participate in civic integration programmes are in the 18-24 age group (34 percent) and the 25-34 age group (30 percent); among family and other migrants, the largest number are in the 25-34 age group (44 percent). Half of asylum migrants came from Syria (54 percent or 35.3 thousand). Other countries of origin among asylum migrants include Türkiye (Turkey), Yemen, Eritrea and Afghanistan (25 percent or 16.3 thousand came from these countries, combined). Many of the family and other migrants originate from Morocco, Türkiye and various countries in Asia (31 percent or 10.3 thousand).
The position within the household is determined when the migrant is first housed in a municipality. Almost all asylum migrants in the 2022 cohort, 92 percent of asylum migrants in the 2023 cohort and 57 percent of asylum migrants in the 2024 cohort had been housed by a municipality by the end of 2024. Of these, over one-third of asylum migrants were single (20 thousand) and slightly over a quarter were part of a couple with children (13.9 thousand). A total of 8.7 thousand asylum migrants were adult children in a family with parents. Among family and other migrants, the distribution according to the position within the household was different from the distribution among asylum migrants. Partners in a couple without children (19 thousand) and partners in a couple with children (6.4 thousand) together made up more than three-quarters of all family and other migrants.
Education in the Netherlands
Around 1 in 10 of those undergoing civic integration had attended education in the Netherlands before starting the civic integration process (12 percent). This concerns almost exclusively those in the 18-34 age group. In 97 percent of cases in which asylum migrants had attended education in the Netherlands before the start of civic integration, they had been in secondary vocational education (47 percent) or secondary education (50 percent) . This share was significantly lower among family and other migrants, at 37 percent. Family and other migrants are more likely than asylum migrants to have attended higher vocational education (HBO, 22 percent) or university education (40 percent).
Education outside the Netherlands
At the end of 2024, 10.9 thousand persons subject to the civic integration requirement – of whom 9.4 thousand were asylum migrants and 1.5 thousand were family and other migrants – had had their diploma officially assessed. Asylum migrants were more likely to have attained a level comparable to a HAVO or VWO diploma (25 percent) than family and other migrants (8 percent). Family and other migrants were more likely to have attained a level comparable to a Bachelor’s degree (57 percent) or Master's degree (18 percent) than asylum migrants (52 percent and 9 percent, respectively).
Pre-integration
The pre-integration process involves providing asylum migrants who are required to participate in civic integration with practical information regarding living independently and life in the Netherlands, and helping them to start learning the Dutch language. The pre-integration process is a non-mandatory component of civic integration. Of the total of 43.8 thousand asylum migrants who were asked if they would like to participate in the pre-integration process, 33.3 thousand asylum migrants (76 percent) agreed to do so. A total of 24.2 thousand of the asylum migrants then actually participated in language classes as part of the pre-integration process, and by the end of 2024 5.4 thousand asylum migrants had completed these language classes. Some potential reasons for failing to complete the pre-integration process include that the relevant individuals had already begun classes with the municipality, had found employment, had not been able to arrange childcare, or had found it difficult to return to education after a long time. Some of the asylum migrants who are required to integrate are not offered the opportunity of pre-integration. This is the case if, for example, they are staying in emergency accommodation that is not managed by the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum seekers (COA) or if they have recently arrived at a reception location managed by the COA.
Housing and distribution
Of the 47.8 thousand asylum migrants who were placed in a municipality, 4 percent of cases involved a placement with a second muncipality. Before actually being allocated housing by a municipality, most asylum migrants had moved between reception locations: 87 percent. More than one-third have moved between reception locations three times or more.
Around one in six asylum migrants were placed with the same municipality in which they were being accommodated in a COA reception location. For asylum migrants who are placed in a different municipality to the one in which they are being accommodated (a total of 41.0 thousand asylum migrants), the distance between the two municipalities varies greatly. More than half of asylum migrants (22.1 thousand) were accommodated at a reception centre within 60 kilometres of the municipality in which they were placed. Around 1 in 6 (7.0 thousand) were accommodated in a reception centre more than 140 kilometres away from the municipality in which they were placed.
Three months after the civic integration requirement first took effect, 38 percent of asylum migrants from the 2024 cohort had been housed by a municipality, compared to 43 percent in the 2022 cohort and 46 percent in the 2023 cohort. Asylum migrants are generally more dispersed across the Netherlands than family and other migrants. This is because asylum migrants are placed with municipalities in numbers that reflect the population of the relevant municipality, and are therefore distributed more evenly across the Netherlands. Even so, the smaller municipalities are more likely to accommodate a disproportionately high number of asylum migrants (when population is taken into account). Family and other migrants live mainly in the large cities in the west of the country.
As soon as asylum migrants subject to the civic integration requirement are placed with a municipality by the COA, the municipality may begin providing them with support. Among asylum migrants who became subject to the civic integration requirement in 2022, 9 percent (1.3 thousand) were provided with a personal integration and participation plan (PIP) by the relevant municipality while still residing in a COA reception facility. For the 2023 cohort, this share is 12 percent.
Civic integration in municipalities
After the civic integration requirement first takes effect and when housing has been provided by the municipality, a general intake procedure is carried out to assess the start position and development opportunities of each person subject to the requirement.
Based on the conclusions of the general intake and in combination with the results of a learning aptitude test, a learning pathway is determined. The details of this are recorded in a ‘Personal Integration and Participation Plan’ (PIP), in the form of an official decision.
The B1 route is the learning pathway that is followed the most frequently; this is more common among family and other migrants than among asylum migrants. In almost all cases where the ‘Z route’ is taken, the learning aptitude test shows that language level B1 is not attainable. The result of the learning aptitude test is therefore often consistent with the learning pathway selected, but does not always seem to determine the learning pathway specified in the PIP.
If it appears that a person who is subject to the civic integration requirement is unable to achieve language level B1 within the integration period, the municipality may decide to reduce the target language level to A2. To qualify for this, the person concerned must have attended at least 600 hours of language classes from a provider approved by the Blik op Werk Foundation. For asylum migrants from the 2022 cohort, six percent had moved from target language level B1 to target language level A2 by the end of 2024. This is less common among family and other migrants (one percent).
The learning route of a person subject to the civic integration requirement may be changed by the municipality up to eighteen months after the start of the civic integration period. Switching from the education route to the B1 route is possible at any point in the civic integration process. In three percent of cases, asylum migrants from the 2022 cohort had switched learning pathways by the end of 2024. This was less common among family and other migrants (one percent). Most of those required to integrate switched from the B1 route to the Z route, followed by switchers from the education route to the B1 route.
The education completed by migrants during the learning pathway was also examined. The majority of those following the learning pathway are not in education (91 percent). Those who are in education are divided between those with a temporary exemption from the civic integration requirement and those without such an exemption. Most of those with a temporary exemption attend education at MBO-2 level. For those without a temporary exemption, most are in MBO-1 or secondary education.
Among asylum migrants in the 2022 cohort, 95 percent had thier own PIP at the end of 2024. Among asylum migrants who had a PIP by the end of 2024, this had been issued within ten weeks of being housed by a municipality in four out of ten cases for those in the 2022 cohort. A total of 97 percent of family and other migrants from the 2022 cohort had a PIP in place by the end of 2024. In 21 percent of cases, this occurred within ten weeks of being housed in a municipality.
Other components of the civic integration programme include the Employment Market & Participation Module (MAP) and the Participation Declaration Programme (PVT). The MAP consists of an introduction to and preparation for the Dutch labour market. The PVT consists of two parts: an introduction to the core values of Dutch society (freedom, equality, solidarity and participation) and the signing of the participation declaration itself. Only those who had already fulfilled the civic integration requirement were considered with respect to the completion of the MAP and the signing of the PVT. The MAP and PVT are usually completed/signed within two years of being housed by a municipality. The PVT is more likely to be signed than the MAP in the first year after being housed by a municipality, and this appears to take place earlier in the civic integration process.
This report does not look at courses taken and exams passed.
Participation in the labour market
In the period prior to being notified of the civic integration requirement (but measured from 1 January 2020), 6 percent of asylum migrants (3.2 thousand) with an accommodation agreement with the COA had been in employment at some point. After being notified of the civic integration requirement, 26 percent of asylum migrants (12 thousand) were in employment at some point during the period of the COA accommodation agreement. More men are in employment (34 percent) than women (6 percent).
The share of asylum migrants in employment increases after they are housed by a municipality. In the 2022 and 2023 cohorts, just over a quarter of male asylum migrants (6.8 thousand) were in paid work within a year of being housed by a municipality, and one in ten female asylum migrants (1.6 thousand). These were mainly part-time jobs, and in over one-third of cases, asylum migrants were working in the accommodation and food services sector three months after being housed in a municipality. Employment is highest among asylum migrants who are fully exempt from the civic integration requirement: 90 percent were employed at some point in 2024 (220 people). This is followed by the group with a temporary exemption (80 percent, 1.8 thousand people).
Family and other migrants are more likely to be in paid work than asylum migrants. Among family and other migrants in the 2022 cohort and 2023 cohort, three-quarters of men and over half of women are in employment within a year of being housed by a municipality. The share of part-time jobs is also lower in this group than among asylum migrants. In about 1 in 5 cases, three months after being allocated housing, they have enrolled with job placement services, temporary employment agencies and human resource management; a further one in five are working in the food and accommodation services sector. Among family and other migrants, the highest labour force participation rate is seen among migrants with a temporary exemption from the civic integration requirement: 86 percent of them were in employment in 2024 (450 people). The share is also high among those who are fully exempt, at 82 percent (825 persons).
A total of 90 percent of asylum migrants in the 2022 cohort were receiving benefits (mainly income support) in the first year of being housed by a municipality, compared with 7 percent among family and other migrants. One requirement for family and other migrants is that the income of the reference person is sufficient. In the 2023 cohort, the share of asylum migrants on benefits was slightly lower, at 78 percent of men (4.8 thousand) and 79 percent of women (4.0 thousand) in the first year after being housed by a municipality. Asylum migrants are more likely to use reintegration services than family and other migrants.
Civic integration requirement fulfilled
At the end of 2024, the majority of migrants subject to the civic integration requirement were still on their way to becoming officially integrated. This means that the statutory deadline for meeting the civic integraration requirement had not yet passed. Of the total of 25.9 thousand persons from the 2022 cohort who are required to undergo civic integration, 1.1 thousand (4 percent) have done so. In addition, 1.2 thousand persons (5 percent) have a waiver or exemption, or the requirement has lapsed.
In the 2022 cohort, there are clear differences between asylum migrants and family and other migrants. Among asylum migrants, 3 percent had met the civic integration requirement by the end of 2024, compared to 8 percent of family and other migrants.
The majority of those who have fulfilled the civic integration requirement followed the B1 route. This includes 495 asylum migrants and 545 family and other migrants.