Many natives of Rotterdam live elsewhere

On 1 January 2004, there were 770 thousand people in the Netherlands who were born in Rotterdam. Four in ten natives of Rotterdam (302 thousand) are still living in the town where they were born, so the majority of them live elsewhere.

Barendrecht and Albrandswaard popular destinations

Proportionally, most former Rotterdam residents live in Barendrecht and Albrandswaard (both 52 percent). The proportion of natives of Rotterdam is even higher than in Rotterdam (51 percent). The proportion is also high (over 40 percent) in the municipalities of Capelle aan den IJssel and Spijkenisse. Ridderkerk, Bergschenhoek and Oud-Beijerland each account for more than 35 percent ).

People born in Rotterdam mainly live the suburbs

Many natives of Rotterdam live in surrounding municipalities to the south and east of Rotterdam, where new housing estates have recently been built in – for instance – Capelle aan den IJssel and Berkel en Rodenrijs.

Many children are born in Rotterdam hospitals, because there are no (university) hospitals in neighbouring municipalities. Altogether, one in four babies under the age of one and born in Rotterdam live outside the city.

Most natives of Rotterdam do not live far away

In general, the further a municipality is away from Rotterdam, the fewer natives of Rotterdam live there. Only in and around Eindhoven and a large part of the province of Drenthe, the proportion of people born in Rotterdam is slightly higher than in the other surrounding areas.

Former Rotterdam residents live across all Dutch municipalities

On 1 January 2004, natives of Rotterdam lived spread across all Dutch municipalities. In absolute figures, Spijkenisse had the largest number of former Rotterdam residents (31 thousand), followed by Capelle aan den IJssel (30 thousand). Many natives of Rotterdam are living in Barendrecht, Ridderkerk, Hellevoetsluis, Schiedam and Albrandswaard (between 10 and 20 thousand). Thorn in the province of Limburg has the smallest number of former Rotterdam residents (8), followed by Simpelveld (16), also situated in Limburg.

 
Proportion of former Rotterdam residents by municipality, 2004

Suzanne Loozen and Carel Harmsen