Amsterdam a Yuppie Hub

As immigrants keep moving to Dutch cities and natives move out, natives in Amsterdam, especially rich ones, are multiplying, new figures show. And immigrants settling in the capital increasingly come from rich, Western countries.


Magnet

Whereas women of Dutch descent are having more children, those of foreign origin are choosing to have smaller families, Amsterdam's Urban Planning Service found. At the same time, the number of immigrants 'from Morocco, Turkey, Surina and the Dutch Antilles, the countries where most of them used to come from, have been falling steeply.
Though the capital continues to draw newcomers, they now tend to come from the European Union and English-speaking countries. At the same time, Amsterdam is also attracting more and more immigrants from China, Brazil and India. Most of them are highly educated and no longer come from rural areas but from university cities.

Child friendly

The falling birth rate among immigrant women, especially Turkish and Moroccan ones, seems to be the result of their rising employment rates. Increasingly, they also attain higher education levels. Dutch families in Amsterdam, by contrast, now often have three children. The average birth rate in the Netherlands is 1.75 children per woman.
Large young families say they are happy in Amsterdam, which is becoming increasingly child friendly, allowing parents to take their children anywhere on their special carrier cycle. The new IJburg quarter, on the capital´s eastern outskirts, is also proving popular with families.
Demographer Julian Jansen of the Urban Planning Service says he is happy with the developments. “Amsterdam's mission to become a metropolis where highly-educated are eager to live and work has succeeded”, he told the newspaper de Volkskrant. His major concern is that not enough new houses are being built. As the capital´s population ages, and those who retire stay, there won't be enough houses to accommodate all the newcomers. That, in turn, could threaten its labour potential, as people who can't live in Amsterdam are less likely to work there.