Bulgarians, Poles, Romanians flock to NL
28 November 2007
RIJSWIJK Almost 13,000 Bulgarians, Poles and Romanians settled in the Netherlands in the first nine months of this year. That is almost twice as many as in the same period in 2006. This has emerged from figures published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on Wednesday.
The increase has mostly been among Romanians and Bulgarians. Immigration from these countries has increased substantially since they joined the EU in January of this year.
From January to September 5,600 Bulgarians and Romanians came to the Netherlands, compared to about 1,000 in the same period a year earlier.
The number of Poles coming to the Netherlands also increased sharply after its accession to the EU in May 2004. Almost a quarter of them have returned to Poland in the meantime.
Bulgarians and Romanians primarily settle in the large cities. More than 60 percent of the Bulgarian immigrants ended up in one of the four largest cities in the country. Most work in the greenhouses in the western part of the country. Poles tend to work mostly in the flower growing region and the cities of Brabant.
