Since Suriname gained independence, more than 250,000 Surinamese people have come to the Netherlands, according to figures from CBS. While it was often difficult for first-generation migrants to integrate economically, the second and third generations are doing very well socio-economically. Anne Gielen, Professor of Labour Economics and Policy at Erasmus School of Economics, talks about how migration policy has shaped the lives of three generations of Surinamese migrants.
Two waves of migration
On 25 November 1975, Suriname officially gained independence from the Netherlands. With that decision, Surinamese people were given the choice to take the Dutch nationality and emigrate for up to five years after independence. Many took advantage of this opportunity, in 1975 alone 40,000 Surinamese emigrated to the Netherlands, partly due to the strong Dutch economy in the 1970s. According to Professor Anne Gielen, this first wave of migrants consisted ‘mainly of elite, economic migrants from Paramaribo who knew the Dutch language’. The migrants who followed came from all walks of life.
The second migration peak in 1979 and 1980 arose from the idea of ‘now or never’. These migrants were often older and had a poorer understanding of the Dutch language. This first generation of Surinamese migrants is not doing so well. ‘Surinamese migrants who often came to the Netherlands unprepared have not had the opportunity to realise their full potential, for example because they did not speak the language. We still see this reflected in the wages they earn’, according to research by Gielen.
The next generation
Since Surinamese independence, 189,000 children have been born in the Netherlands with at least one parent born in Suriname. They form the second generation. Compared to the first generation, the second and third generations of Surinamese are doing very well socio-economically. According to Gielen, young Surinamese are catching up because they now do have the opportunities to develop themselves.
- Professor
- More information
You can read the original article in NOS, 19 November 2025, here (in Dutch).
Read the paper by Anne Gielen and Dinand Webbink, "Unexpected Colonial Returns: Self-Selection and Economic Integration of Migrants Over Multiple Generations", here.
For more information, please contact Ronald de Groot, Media and Public Relations Officer at Erasmus School of Economics, rdegroot@ese.eur.nl, or +31 6 53 641 846.
