13 April 2005

AMSTERDAM — A survey has indicated that 32 percent of Dutch people want to emigrate abroad and that just 51 percent are proud of the Netherlands.

The survey by Amsterdam-based research bureau Signicom also found that 33 percent of Dutch nationals think that China will have greater power than the US and Europe combined in 10 years time.

Some 443 people participated in the random sample survey, which also applied new techniques in which respondents were able to spontaneously give their reactions to certain subjects. This time the subject was the Netherlands and China.

In the new method, called MindWorld, qualitative data is reproduced as quantitative data, in which age is also taken into account. And several aspects of the results subsequently come more prominently to the fore.

The research indicated that Dutch people think more positively about China than they do the Netherlands. Some 46 percent of people think negatively about the Netherlands, compared with 35 percent for China.

A large amount of the spontaneous reactions over the Netherlands were negative. This was due to political developments, multiculturalism, over-population, criminality and socially distant people.

But there were also positive appraisals, such as freedom, Dutch national symbols and the landscape, newspaper 'De Telegraaf' reported on Wednesday.

Negative aspects of China were its high population density, the large size of the country and communism. Positive aspects were its economic future, Chinese food, the rich culture and history and the Chinese wall.

Many people consider China to have a good future and a large number of Dutch people believe that China will become the new superpower that will conquer the world.

[Copyright Expatica News 2005]

Subject: Dutch news