Summary - Syrians in the Netherlands

A study of the first years of their lives in the Netherlands

Original title: "Syriërs in Nederland"

The large influx of refugees between 2014 and 2016 meant the Netherlands was faced with a major challenge in organising sufficient reception facilities, establishing an adequate asylum procedure and for those granted a residence permit, arranging accommodation in Dutch municipalities. Now that the flow of refugees has decreased markedly, the emphasis has increasingly moved from dealing with reception facilities and housing towards integration.

Syrians in the Netherlands presents a picture of the Syrian asylum status-holders who have come to live in the Netherlands over the last few years. In this report we describe their flight from Syria and their experiences on the journey. We collected information on how long they spent living in reception centres and their opinion about these centres. We investigate how much attention Syrians devote to the civic integration process and learning the Dutch language, and how good their command of Dutch is. We look at the sociocultural and socio-economic position of Syrians in the Netherlands, including their education level. We also look at what Syrian status-holders think of the Netherlands and to what extent they already feel an affinity with their host country. In addition, the report describes their health status and use of care services. Finally, we present a picture of the lives of Syrian children in the Netherlands aged between 4 and 17 years.

The report is largely based on a new survey in which 3,200 Syrians participated. The study was carried out in collaboration between researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP), the Research and Documentation Centre (WODC), the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and Statistics Netherlands (CBS). This study forms part of a longitudinal cohort study of asylum-seekers and asylum status-holders which is being carried out at the request of four Dutch ministries (Social Affairs and Employment; Justice and Security; Education, Culture and Science; and Health, Welfare and Sport). We will continue to monitor progress in the integration of asylum status-holders over the coming years using a combination of new surveys, qualitative research and register data.