Over 120,000 Dutch citizens emigrated in 2005

VOORBURG - A record number of 121,000 people left the country last year, ten percent more than in 2004. Over half of them were born in the Netherlands. Of those foreign-born Dutchmen that departed, the vast majority returned to their native country, or as refugees sought opportunities elsewhere. A third group had accepted a job abroad. An increasing number of Dutch-born emigrants left for countries such as Belgium, the UK, Germany and the Dutch Antilles. About 94,000 immigrants were registered last year, the same number as in 2004. Only a few hundred people arrived from traditional immigrant countries Morocco and Turkey. Polish immigrants made up the largest group instead: 7,000, an increase of 250 percent over the previous year.