ROTTERDAM, 02/08/03 - Rotterdam will become increasingly colored in the coming years. The proportion of the city's total population from immigrant backgrounds will rise from 46 percent now to 57 percent in 2017, new statistics by the municipal statistics bureau COS show.

The population of Rotterdam will increase by about 35,000 to 635,000 over the next fifteen years. This will include 365,000 people from ethnic groups, 90,000 more than now. The native population will shrink as more and more Dutch people will move away from the city, mostly to neighboring towns.

The main cause for the growing number of ethnic residents is the immigration of marriage partners and family members. Most young Turks and Moroccans will continue to bring in partners from their - or their parents - country of origin. In addition, immigrant families generally have more children than the Dutch.

COS expects Rotterdam in 2017 will have 56,000 residents from Suriname, 50,000 from Turkey, 48,000 from Morocco, 34,000 from the Netherlands Antilles (including Aruba) and 16,000 from Cape Verde. The remaining 160,000 ethnic residents will come from other countries.

People from immigrant groups as well as the native Dutch are moving out of the city more frequently to neighboring municipalities such as Barendrecht and Capelle aan den IJssel, although this mostly involves Surinamese and Antilleans. "For Turks and Moroccans, it is important to remain in the city near facilities such as the mosque or the Islamic butcher," COS director C. Oudijk explained.