Table 2. Stateless/unknown nationality – sex
Males
Females
50,194
(59%)
34,875
(41%)
Source: CBS, situation 01 January 2010
46. As table 1 shows, the Central Bureau for Statistics, in its “Statline” database, reported
that on 1 January 2010 there were 85,069 persons living in the Netherlands without
a nationality or with an unknown nationality. This category is defined by the CBS as
“persons who are not considered as a national by any State or whose nationality cannot
be established”.61 A little more than 85 per cent are younger than 45 years (table 1) and
almost 60 per cent are male (table 2).62 These 85,069 persons constituted 11.5 per cent of
the total number of registered aliens in the Netherlands (735,197). This large category can
be broken down into those registered as stateless persons and as persons of unknown
nationality. The former group (stateless) is markedly smaller, consisting of 2,062 persons
on 1 January 2010, whereas the latter group (“nationality unknown”) comprises 83,007
individuals.63 To the extent that individuals from these two categories migrated to the
Netherlands, it is useful to inquire into the size of these migration flows (table 3).
Table 3. Migration flows in the Netherlands, 2008
Total
Stateless
Unknown Nationality
Emigration
90,067
43
374
Immigration
143,516
207
9,021
Source: Eurostat, 2008
47. Clearly, in 2008, the most recent year for which data was available, immigration to the
Netherlands outpaced emigration and this pattern extended to the flow of stateless
persons and persons of unknown nationality as well.
48. It is possible for both stateless persons and persons of unknown nationality to acquire
Dutch citizenship.
Table 4. Grounds on the basis of which Dutch nationality has been acquired by stateless
persons and persons of unknown nationality, 2009
Ground for acquisition
Nationality Unknown
Stateless
Emigration
10
5
Immigration
45
13
25
7
Judicial determination of paternity
Right of option
127
42
Naturalization
4,634
45
64
Co-naturalization
2,188
46
Total
7,029
158
Source: CBS, 2009
61
CBS, available at http://tinyurl.com/3vr3urm [accessed 5 January 2011].
62
CBS, available at http://tinyurl.com/3a7mnzc [accessed 5 January 2011].
63
CBS, data not available on Statline but on file with UNHCR.
64
Refers to the possibility for applying for Dutch nationality under Article 6(1)b of the DNA.
in the Netherlands
21