Richest municipalities in North-Holland

Blaricum was the richest municipality in the Netherlands in 2000. The standardised income of households in this North -Holland municipality was 56 percent above the national average. Six of the ten richest municipalities are in the province of North Holland. Relatively poor municipalities are found mainly in Groningen and Friesland.

Blaricum and Reiderland two extremes

Blaricum was the richest municipality. It is followed by Bloemendaal and Laren. In these North-Holland municipalities the standardised income in 2000 was 42 to 56 percent above the national average. This means the average inhabitant has between 7 to 10 thousand more euro to spend. The income was lowest in Reiderland, followed by Pekela, also inGroningen, and Dongeradeel (Friesland). In this municipality inhabitants had over 15 percent less to spend than the national average.

Standardised income index per municipality, 2000
Netherlands=100 (=18.2 thousand euro)

Small diference between municipalities

The standardised income in the Netherlands in 2000 was ober 18 thousand euro. The differences in income between municipalities are usually small. In four out of five municipalities the standardised income deviated less than 10 percent from the average. The spread in income was widest in North Holland.

Low standardised income in northern provinces

There are relatively many municipalities where the standardised income is relatively low in Groningen and Friesland. In these provinces the income was below the national average in almost all municipalities The exception was the municipality of Haren in Groningen with a standardised income of plus 16 percent. In the province of Utrecht the standadised income was above the national average for all municipalities.

Deviation from the national average standardised income, 2000

Enschede and Rotterdam 10 percent below average

The standardised income of most major cities does not deviate much from the national average. Exceptions to this are Enschede and Rotterdam with an average of minus 10 percent. The richest municipality of more than 100 thousand inhabitants was Haarlemmermeer with plus 13 percent. Among the middle-sized municipalities the standardised income was highest in Amstelveen (plus 21 percent) and lowest in Almelo (minus 11 percent).

Hans Kasperski