The Netherlands releases regional population and household forecast

Population growth in the Netherlands

The population of the Netherlands has been increasing in the past decades. At regional level, however, growth is not self-evident and in some regions at the edges of the country, the population is now in decline. Continued population growth is expected for Netherlands as a whole until 2025, but important regional disparities are can be seen here. In some regions and municipalities on the edge of the Netherlands population decline is expected. In the face of this decline a strong population growth, particularly in western Netherlands, is expected. Between 2010 and 2025, the population of Amsterdam is expected to increase 110.000, and that of Utrecht with 80.000. For Almere a growth of 60.000 is expected. That's more than the expected growth for The Hague and Rotterdam, with 55 and 45 000 respectively.

An ageing population

The potential labour force (the number of people aged 20 to 65 years) has increased continuously in size in the last few decades, but in the near future growth is expected to turn into shrinkage. For most regions outside the Randstad (meaning Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) there will be a sharp contraction of the potential labour force. The peripheral regions are thus most affected. The Dutch population has been getting older, but in the next 15 years ageing will speed up. Flevoland will age strongly. This province is currently much younger than the rest of the Netherlands, but will in the coming years reach the Dutch average.

Diversity in the Netherlands

In recent decades, the composition of the Dutch population has become increasingly diverse with the arrival of Western and non-Western immigrants. Especially the number of non-Western immigrants will rise in the future. This population lives fairly concentrated in the Randstad, and inside the large urban municipalities. According to the regional forecast non-western immigrants will in the next 15 years spread around the Netherlands, but the pattern will remain consist in that there is a high concentration living in the Randstad and a low concentration in the periphery. Because of suburbanisation from large municipalities to surrounding communities, the concentration of urbanized municipalities will be less strong.