Some 55% of the Dutch think the number of people of foreign origin in the Netherlands is ‘too high’ but overestimate how many immigrants live in the country, according to a new Ipsos poll.

The poll of 1,136 people aged 18 and over showed 25% think there are just the right number of immigrants and 2% think there are too few, website nu.nl reports.

But when asked about the number of people of foreign origin in their own area, 24% said there were too many and 59% said there was a good balance.

There was a similar picture when asked about the mixing of cultures in the Netherlands. 47% of those polled thought this was a problem in the country in general but only 27% in their own district.

The results also showed various misunderstandings about immigrants. Almost half consider there are more Moroccans in the Netherlands than any other immigrant group.

In fact, figures from the national statistics office CBS show there are similar numbers of Moroccans, Germans, Turks, Surinamese and Indonesians in the Netherlands.

And 57% thought there were far more members of ethnic minorities in the Netherlands than there actually are, nu.nl reports, without giving figures.