The ‘city’ of Almere in Flevoland is, mystifyingly, one of the most popular places in the Netherlands to move to
Translated by Thomas Ansell
As reported by RTV Drenthe, new population figures from the CBS show that Drenthe is becoming one of the more popular regions in the Netherlands, being one of only two Provinces to have seen population growth in all of its Gemeentes (the other is Flevoland).
According to the figures, there was an increase of 31,700 people across the country between January and June of 2021. The Gemeente Hoogeveen saw 300 new people register, whilst 239 people became Emmenaars in the same period. The Gemeente Noordenveld, on the other hand, only saw another 15 people move to (or be born in) the municipality.
Almere, the grey (but with a reasonable supply of housing) region just to the North of the Randstad, saw 1,400 people join its ranks- with Den Haag, Lelystad, Ede; Dronten, and Tilburg having above-average population growth in the first half of 2021.
The university cities of Groningen, Wageningen, Utrecht; Maastricht, and Enschede all saw falls in their populations. Groningen lost 621 people in six months, though proportionally the Gemeente Westerwolde on the Western edge of Groningen lost the most people.
Meanwhile, 1,500 people left Amsterdam: this is despite it having more births than deaths, and more International immigrants than emigres. However, more and more longer-term Dutch residents are leaving the city for less busy areas of the country.
Photo by Rob Curran on Unsplash
