Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0257/02570.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 18KB | 376 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02570}
$Pretitle{433}
$Title{Netherlands
Population and Education}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Antoinette de Cock Buning and Leo Verheijen}
$Affiliation{Foreign Information Service}
$Subject{education
schools
rights
women
equal
higher
secondary
netherlands
government
years}
$Date{1987}
$Log{Table 2.*0257001.tab
}
Country:     Netherlands
Book:        The Netherlands in Brief
Author:      Antoinette de Cock Buning and Leo Verheijen
Affiliation: Foreign Information Service
Date:        1987

Population and Education

     The population of the Netherlands is now 14.5 million compared with 5.1
million at the turn of the century. The country has a total surface area of
41,548 square kilometres, 4,243 of which are uninhabitable as they consist of
rivers, canals and lakes. This means an average of 426 people to each square
kilometre (1987). The most densely populated area is the 'Randstad'
conurbation in the west of the country made up of the cities of Amsterdam, The
Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht.

     The pressure of population in the Netherlands makes town and country
planning a matter of special urgency (see the separate section on 'Physical
Planning').

     The surplus of births over deaths or natural growth of the population has
gone down regularly since 1964, particularly in the 1970-1975 period. The
birth rate declined from 18.3 per thousand in 1970 to 11.7 per thousand in
1986. The death rate fluctuates between 8 and 8.5 per thousand. Net gain
through migration (the number of immigrants less the number of emigrants) has
increased since the early sixties. Initially, the increase was largely the
result of the immigration of foreign workers. In the 1970s there was an influx
of immigrants from Suriname which achieved independence in 1975. The
immigration of foreign workers has now virtually come to a halt but dependents
of people already here are still being admitted. In fact entry is now granted
only on humanitarian grounds (family reunification).

     Despite the immigration surplus, overall population growth in the
Netherlands has declined in recent years, partly as a result of the fall in
the birth rate, from 12 per thousand inhabitants in 1960 to roughly 8 per
1000 in 1986. It is estimated that the population will number roughly 15
million in the year 2000 in contrast to an earlier forecast of 20 million. The
proportion of old people will rise from 11% to 14%.

     The Netherlands government does not consider that it will need to take
any action in the next few years to influence the birth rate. Generally
speaking, it regards the present situation as favourable but hopes eventually
to arrive at a situation where both total population figures and the age
structure of the population remain virtually static.

     At present, there are 17 municipalities in the Netherlands with more than
100,000 inhabitants: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Eindhoven,
Haarlem, Groningen, Tilburg, Nijmegen, Enschede, Apeldoorn, Arnhem, Breda,
Zaanstad, Maastricht, Dordrecht and Leiden.


[See Table 2.: Religious Denominations]

Religion

     The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The table shows the
number of people who belong to various religious denominations and the changes
which have taken place since 1900.

     The striking feature of these figures is the decline in membership of the
Dutch Reformed Church to less than half its former strength and the rise in
the number of people who do not belong to any denomination. Very roughly the
regional distribution to any denominations is as follows: Roman Catholics are
found chiefly in the provinces of Limburg and North Brabant, Protestants are
strongest in a broad band running across the country from the south-west
(Zeeland) to the north-east (Groningen).

'Compartmentalisation'

     A typical feature of Dutch society is what the Dutch themselves call
'compartmentalisation,' meaning the co-existence in political and social life
of organisations with similar or identical goals but with a different
ideological basis. This phenomenon is encountered in television, radio, the
press, education, and in sport and social clubs.

Young people

     About 5.5 million people or 40% of the population are under the age of
25. Government policy aims to offer young people as many opportunities as
possible for personal development, in social and creative terms, and in
education, recreation and employment. The social situation of young people has
changed perceptibly over the years. They have more control over the way they
live, they have greater independence and are attempting to define their own
identity and attitudes in relation to society.

     Youth policy, coordinated by the Ministry of Welfare, Health and Cultural
Affairs, seeks to harmonise measures taken by individual ministries to help
young people in relation to housing, employment, welfare and health. Efforts
are also made to achieve close interministerial cooperation on youth
unemployment and out-patient and preventive care for young people. It would be
wrong to ascribe the changes which have taken place in Dutch society to young
people alone. They are the fruits of a long-term process set in motion by
older people and previous generations. Young people's organisations are
eligible for subsidies to enable them to take part in international meetings
etc. The interests of voluntary bodies which undertake youth work are
represented by the Netherlands Youth Work Federation which maintains links
with both government and parliament.

Equal rights for women

     Diverse women's organisations in the Netherlands have worked for equal
rights for women during the last eighty years. The women's movement really
began at the turn of the century with women from well-to-do intellectual
circles demanding the same rights as men in education and eligibility for
public office.

     Later working-class women pressed for improvements in their economic and
social position, arguing that if they were not obliged to work, they would be
able to devote more time to their families. Pressure from both groups led to
the enfranchisement of women in 1919. Supported by international trends, the
women's movement in the Netherlands again came to the fore in the 1960s. In
recent years women have become more aware of their role in society and major
changes in attitudes have challenged the traditional man/woman role pattern.
This finds expression in a wider variety of lifestyles and relationships, the
higher level of education enjoyed by women and the increasing desire of more
women to work outside the home. The percentage of married women in employment
in the Netherlands is still low compared to that in other countries.

     The government has responded to these trends with its equal rights
policy. Two years after the United Nations Decade for Women started in 1975,
it published its first policy document on equal rights entitled 'Equal rights:
a process of change and growth'.

     From 1977 to 1986, a state secretary with special responsibility for
equal rights policy was a member of the government. When the new government
came into power in 1986, the post was abolished. Responsibility for equal
rights now rests with the Minister of Employment and Social Security.

     The Interministerial Coordinating Committee on Women's Rights, on which
all the ministries are represented, was set up to coordinate overall
government policy. Virtually all of the ministries have their own committees
to deal with women's rights in relation to their own special fields. A new
government advisory body, the Equal Rights Council, was set up in 1981.

     It provides advice on request and on its own initiative on all policy
proposals affecting women. It is made up of experts on equal rights from
different political backgrounds and areas of society.

     The government presented its Equal Rights Policy Plan in 1985 in which it
states that equal rights for women is a fundamental and irreversible process
to which society has not res