The Netherlands is known for its openness, its tolerance and its long history as a country of immigration. Amsterdam is one of the most international cities in Europe — and right in the middle lives a small but well-connected Albanian community. Around 20,000 Albanians have built a new home in the Netherlands. Not a huge number, but a community with character and solidarity.
How Albanians Came to the Netherlands
As in many Western European countries, Albanian migration to the Netherlands began in the early 1990s. The collapse of the communist regime in Albania and later the Kosovo War of 1998–1999 drove people westward in search of safety and a better future. The Netherlands was seen as a stable, prosperous democracy — an attractive destination.
What makes the Albanian community in the Netherlands special: it is comparatively young and well-educated. Many came as students, as skilled workers, or as young families. That shapes the community to this day — it's mobile, engaged and well-networked.
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague — The Albanian Centres
The Albanian community in the Netherlands is spread mainly across three cities. Amsterdam is the cultural and economic centre — here you find the most Albanians, distributed across various neighbourhoods. Rotterdam, as a port city with a strong tradition of labour migration, also has an active Albanian community. And The Hague, seat of the Dutch government and many international organisations, attracts Albanian professionals and families.
In these cities people meet at Albanian family celebrations, in Albanian Facebook groups, and increasingly at organised community events. The Albanian diaspora in the Netherlands is small, but it grows — and it finds more and more ways to connect.
Integration the Dutch Way
The Dutch have a direct, pragmatic way about them — and the Albanian community has adopted that. People integrate, learn the language, work hard. Albanian children in Dutch schools often perform above average. The parents place great value on education — that's an Albanian core value that gets reinforced abroad.
At the same time, the Albanian identity is preserved. Albanian is spoken at home, Albanian traditions are maintained, and the connection to the homeland — whether Albania or Kosovo — remains strong. I know this balancing act well. It's not always easy, but it's possible. And it enriches life on both sides.
Between Kosovo and Holland — My Perspective
As someone who grew up between Kosovo and Germany myself, I recognise in the Albanian community of the Netherlands many similarities to my own story. The wish to belong — and still remain oneself. The question of where you actually belong. The answer I found: you belong to both. That's not a loss, that's a gain.
The young Albanians in Amsterdam and Rotterdam who grow up between two languages, who attend Dutch schools and have Albanian grandparents — they carry a dual identity within them that makes them stronger. I don't say that as a phrase. I say it from my own experience.
dua.com — Also in the Netherlands
With a community of around 20,000 people in a country of 17 million inhabitants, it isn't self-evident to find Albanian partners or friends. You live in Amsterdam or Rotterdam, and the Albanians around you are scattered, not concentrated in one neighbourhood.
That's exactly what dua.com is there for. The Albanian dating platform connects Albanian singles not just within the Netherlands, but across Europe. Anyone in Amsterdam looking for Albanian connection — romantic or as community — will find people on dua.com from the entire Albanian diaspora.
As brand ambassador for dua.com, that's exactly what matters to me: bringing the Albanian community together, wherever they live. In Amsterdam or Zurich, in Brussels or New York. We are one community — everywhere.
A Small, Strong Community
The Albanian community in the Netherlands may be small — but it's alive. It grows, it connects, it builds. And in doing so it preserves what makes Albanians who they are: family, pride, solidarity, and the ability to start afresh in a foreign country and succeed.
If you're part of the Albanian community in the Netherlands or have Albanian roots — follow me on Instagram. My videos, my street interviews, my stories are for you. The Albanian diaspora deserves a voice that knows and understands it.
Find out more about the Albanian diaspora in Europe in my pillar article on the Albanian diaspora worldwide.