Reducing the number of municipalities in the Netherlands from the new year to 342
From 1 January 2023, the Netherlands will have three fewer municipalities. Four congregations disappeared and one was added. This amounts to a total number of 342 municipalities. Brielle, Hellevoetsluis and Westvoorne – located in South Holland, will together form a new municipality: Voorne aan Zee. The municipality of Weesp has already realized itself at the municipality of Amsterdam earlier this year. This is reported by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Four of the three municipalities that disappeared before 1830. Weesp has always been an independent municipality until it was added to Amsterdam. In Brielle and Hellevoetsluis there has been no interaction of major changes until now. The municipality of Westvoorne will answer. It was created in 1980 when the municipalities of Oostvoorne, Rockanje and Rozenburg merged.
Municipality of Amsterdam is growing
With Weesp, which has about 21,000 inhabitants, the municipality of Amsterdam is getting bigger and bigger. Now with over 900,000 inhabitants. together, Amsterdam (with 19,000 hectares) occupies 49th place in the ranking of municipalities with the largest land area. The list leader is the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân, with over 52,000 hectares.
With 6712 inhabitants per square kilometer, The Hague will be the most densely populated municipality in 2022, followed by Leiden and Haarlem. Amsterdam occupies fourth place in this ranking, with 4802 inhabitants per square kilometre. The national average is 523 inhabitants per square kilometer.
Fewer municipalities
The fact that the number of municipalities is also decreasing this year is not a crazy development. This negative trend has been going on for several years. Since the early 1980s, the number of municipalities has more than halved from 809 to 342. Often the cause is that smaller municipalities merge into a new municipality or that they are added to an existing municipality.
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The Netherlands has become 23 municipalities richer in the past ten years. Mainly from the provinces of South Holland, Groningen and North Brabant. Of these municipalities, Land van Cuijk – in North Brabant – had the most inhabitants in 2022 (more than 90,000). Ged by Hoeksche Waard in South Holland and the North Hollandse Dijk and Waard.
It is striking that a large majority of these new municipalities are in the top 50 in terms of surface area. The Hogeland in Groningen covers almost 48,000 hectares, making it the second largest municipality in the Netherlands in terms of land area. The new municipalities of Noardeast-Fryslân, De Fryske Marren, Westerkwartier (Groningen) and Land van Cuijk will also follow a short distance away.
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Door: Vick ten Wolde