One in six companies launched in the Netherlands in 2014 was started by someone who was either a dual or foreign national, new figures from the national statistics office CBS show.

In total, 23,000 ‘foreigners’ started a company and they were on average younger than people with Dutch nationality. Some 70% were under the age of 40 compared with just over half of native Dutch entrepreneurs.

Most of the foreigners starting a new firm were Turkish and Moroccan dual nationals, the CBS said.

The figures also show that over 5% of the Bulgarians in the Netherlands started their own company in 2014, as did 4.2% of Romanians.