The population of large cities will increase significantly until at least 2035. This is apparent from the Regional Population and Household Forecast 2022-2050 of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) and Statistics Netherlands, which was published on Wednesday. Amsterdam has the greatest growth (+20 percent) in absolute numbers with 175,000 extra inhabitants compared to 2021 and is expected to pass the limit of 1 million inhabitants in 2030; With 95,000 extra inhabitants, Utrecht is growing relatively fastest (+26 percent).
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In the whole of the Netherlands, the number of inhabitants is expected to increase to 18.9 million by 2035, 1.3 million more than at the beginning of 2022. Almost 70 percent of the expected national growth until 2035 will end up in the largest municipalities with at least 100,000 inhabitants. Various other municipalities are also growing around these municipalities, such as Haarlemmermeer near Amsterdam, Zuidplas near Rotterdam and Rijswijk near The Hague.
According to Statistics Netherlands, large cities grow the fastest because residents are relatively young and on balance more children are born than people die. They are also very attractive to immigrants, including migrant workers from the EU, expats and international students.
Where cities outside the Randstad will grow, further shrinkage is predicted for smaller municipalities on the edges of the country. In 2035, 54 municipalities will have considerably fewer inhabitants than they do now. This mainly concerns municipalities in the northeast of Groningen, Drenthe, the Achterhoek and Limburg. These municipalities are also aging more rapidly. Young people choose to live somewhere else, for example for study or work.