[2][3] There are also sizable populations of Hindu immigrants from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Afghanistan,[4] as well as a smaller number of Western adherents of Hinduism-oriented new religious movements.

The presence of a significant number of Hindus in the Netherlands is a relatively modern development; in 1960, it is estimated there were only ten Indian families in the country,[5] who between them presumably comprised the bulk of the Hindu population.

This was due to the immigration of the Indo-Surinamese ("Hindustanis"), people of Indian origin whose families had emigrated to Suriname as indentured workers in the late nineteenth century.

With Surinamese independence in 1975, growing concern about their future in the new country caused about a third of the Hindustani population to leave Surinam and emigrate to the Netherlands.

[15] Hindus are represented by the St. Maarten Hindu Organization, which holds regular satsangs (prayers) in the Sun Building every first and third Sunday of every month.

The Hindus have also established their own human rights group called ‘Agni’, in order to address the grievances of the community and to highlight the atrocities that are sometimes encountered by them.