Where will we live in 2025?

Over the next two decades the number of inhabitants in the Netherlands is expected to increase by 600 thousand, bringing the total to 16.9 million. The growth areas will be primarily in the provinces North and South Holland and Flevoland. The current decrease in the number of inhabitants in Limburg is expected to continue.

There will be no increase of the number of people with a foreign background in the major cities. There will be an increase in the number of people with a foreign background in the municipalities surrounding the major cities. The aging of the population will be most visible in the border areas, according to the latest figures by Statistics Netherlands and the Netherlands Institute for Spatial Research (RPB) in the most recent publication Regionale bevolkings- en allochtonenprognose 2005-2025.

Negative growth in Limburg, robust positive growth in Flevoland

The population of the Netherlands is expected to increase by almost 4 percent between 2005 and 2025. The population in Flevoland will increase by almost a quarter, due to a great deal of housing construction. Limburg and, to a lesser extent, Zeeland are expected to see their population diminish.

North and South Holland will remain the most populated provinces. Two thirds of the population increase until 2025 will be in these provinces. The growth is expected mainly in and around the major cities. In several municipalities in the regions Gooi en Vechtstreek and in the Green Heart the population is expected to decrease.

More people with a foreign background around the major cities

Most people with a non-western background are currently living in the Randstad area, particularly in the major cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht. Many are expected to move to the surrounding municipalities over the next few years. In the municipalities Schiedam, Diemen and Almere almost 30 percent of the inhabitants will have a non-western background by 2025. There is also a shift toward the surrounding municipalities near Arnhem, Tilburg and Groningen.

People with a western foreign background live and are expected to live mainly in the border areas and in the major cities in the Randstad. They too will increasingly live in the municipalities surrounding the major cities. 

Limburg greying most

In 2025 some 21 percent of the population will be over 65. Currently this is 14 percent. The share of older people will increase in all regions, but more in some regions than in others. Limburg will be the greyest province in 2025, with 25 percent of its population over 65. The southern part of Limburg, the southern part of Zeeland and the rural areas of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe are the greyest and will remain so. In 2025, one in four people in many border municipalities will be over 65. Because Flevoland is mainly popular with young families, this province will have the fewest people over 65, although their number will increase from 9 to 16 percent.

Increasingly the population over 65 will include people with a foreign background, especially in the major cities. By 2025 the number of people with a non-western background aged over 65 is expected to triple in Amsterdam.

PDF contains complete press release, including tables.