Population decline mainly in rural municipalities

On 1 January 2007, nearly half of the Dutch population lived in urban municipalities. Over one third lived in rural municipalities. In 2025, fewer people will live in rural municipalities. The new publication Provincie op maat will elaborate on data on the provincial level.

Population growth by municipality, 2007-2025

Growth unevenly spread

According to the regional population forecast, population growth will not be evenly spread across the Netherlands, but the population will mainly increase in urban municipalities. In nearly three out of four rural municipalities the population is anticipated to shrink. The population will shrink in only one in four urban municipalities.

Population growth by age category and degree of urbanisation, 2007-2025

Shift towards older age groups

In urban municipalities, the population under the age of 20 and the group of 20 to 65-year-olds will increase marginally, but for the Netherlands as a whole the population in these two age categories will decline. In rural municipalities, the age categories 0-20 and 20-65 will drop considerably by 21 and 9 percent respectively.

In 2025, the over-65 population will have grown significantly. This applies to both rural and urban municipalities. The ageing process in the population will be reinforced by a population decline in the age category under 65.

Duncan Beeckman and Basho Poelman

Source: Provincie op maat