Migration paradigm shifts and transformation of migrant communities: The case of Dutch Kiwis

Abstract

This paper explores the dynamics of Dutch community change in New Zealand since 1950. The Netherlands has been the largest source country of migrants from continental Europe to New Zealand, but by 2006 40 percent of the Netherlands born were aged 65 or older. We find that there are three distinct cohorts of these migrants, each covering roughly 20 years of arrivals: a large cohort of post-war migrants (those who arrived in the 1950s and 1960s), and much smaller cohorts of skilled migrants (those who arrived in the 1970s and 1980s), and transnational professionals (those who arrived in the 1990s or more recently). Early migrants were mostly younger arrival, more religious, less educated and had more children than the subsequent cohorts. More recent migrants are increasingly highly qualified and in high-skill occupations. “Dutch Kiwis” are more geographically dispersed than other immigrants, and more recent arrivals are relatively more often located in rural areas. This transformation of the Dutch community in New Zealand can be linked to global and New Zealand/Netherlands specific changes that have conditioned the character and volume of the migrant flows and the dynamics of migrant community development.