Netherlands Provinces and Territories

The Netherlands Administrative Divisions

Netherlands Provinces and Territories

The Netherlands is divided into twelve provinces, each under a King's Commissioner. All provinces are divided into municipalities (gemeenten), of which there are 342 (2023).

The country is subdivided into 21 water districts, governed by a water board (waterschap or hoogheemraadschap), each having authority in matters concerning water management. The creation of water boards pre-dates that of the nation itself, the first appearing in 1196. The Dutch water boards are among the oldest democratic entities in the world still in existence. Direct elections of the water boards take place every four years.

Within the Dutch town of Baarle-Nassau, are 22 Belgian exclaves and within those are 8 Dutch enclaves.

            Province             Capital/Largest City          Total Area (km2)     Land area (km2)     Population (2023)     Density (/km2)

• Drenthe               Assen                                          2,680        2,633        502,051               191
• Flevoland            Lelystad, Almere                        2,412        1,410        444,701               315
• Friesland             Leeuwarden                               5,753        3,340        659,551               197
• Gelderland         Arnhem, Nijmegen                    5,136        4,960        2,133,708            430
• Groningen          Groningen                                   2,955        2,316        596,075               257
• Limburg              Maastricht                                   2,210        2,145        1,118,367            526
• North Brabant   's-Hertogenbosch, Eindhoven  5,082        4,902        2,626,210            536
• North Holland    Haarlem, Amsterdam               4,092        2,663        2,952,622            1,109
• Overijssel            Zwolle, Enschede                       3,421        3,317        1,184,333            357
• South Holland    The Hague, Rotterdam             3,308        2,698        3,804,906            1,410
• Utrecht                 Utrecht                                       1,560        1,484        1,387,643            935
• Zeeland                Middelburg                                2,933        1,780        391,124               220

Mainland                                                                             41,543      33,647     17,811     291       529

Largest Municipalities in the Netherlands

Statistics Netherlands

Rank      Name      Province Pop.              Rank      Name      Province Pop.

1 Amsterdam North Holland 931,298     11 Apeldoorn Gelderland 168,211
2 Rotterdam South Holland 670,610       12 Haarlem North Holland 167,636
3 The Hague South Holland 566,221       13 Arnhem Gelderland 167,632
4 Utrecht Utrecht 374,238                         14 Haarlemmermeer North Holland 163,128
5 Eindhoven North Brabant 246,417       15 Amersfoort Utrecht 161,852
6 Groningen Groningen 243,768              16 Enschede Overijssel 161,738
7 Tilburg North Brabant 229,836              17 Zaanstad North Holland 161,389
8 Almere Flevoland 226,500                      18 's-Hertogenbosch North Brabant 160,757
9 Breda North Brabant 188,078                19 Zwolle Overijssel 133,141
10 Nijmegen Gelderland 187,049             20 Leeuwarden Friesland 128,810

The Netherlands Overview

The Netherlands Sovereign State: Kingdom of the Netherlands
The Netherlands Before Independence: Spanish Netherlands
The Netherlands Act of Abjuration: 26 July 1581
The Netherlands Peace of Münster: 30 January 1648
United Kingdom of the Netherlands 16 March 1815
The Netherlands Liberation Day: 5 May 1945
The Netherlands Kingdom Charter: 15 December 1954
The Netherlands Caribbean Reorganisation: 10 October 2010
The Netherlands Capital and Largest City: Amsterdam
The Netherlands Coordinates: 52°22′N 4°53′E
The Netherlands Government Seat: The Hague
The Netherlands Official Languages: Dutch
The Netherlands Regional Languages:
West Frisian, English
The Netherlands Recognised Languages:
Dutch Low Saxon, Dutch Sign Language, Limburgish, Sinte Romani, Yiddish
The Netherlands Ethnic Groups (2022):
74.0% Dutch
8.4% other Europeans
2.4% Turkish
2.4% Moroccan
2.1% Indonesians
2.1% Surinamese
1.1% Dutch Caribbean
7.6% other
The Netherlands Religion (2023):
58% no religion
30% Christianity
6% Islam
6% other
The Netherlands Demonym(s): Dutch
The Netherlands Government: Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
The Netherlands Monarch: Willem-Alexander
The Netherlands Prime Minister: Dick Schoof
The Netherlands Legislature: States General
The Netherlands Upper House: Senate
The Netherlands Lower House: House of Representatives
European Parliament
The Netherlands Constituency: 31 seats
Area Total: 41,865 km2 (16,164 sq mi) (134th)
The Netherlands Water (%): 18.41
The Netherlands Highest Elevation (Mount Scenery): 887 m (2,910 ft)
The Netherlands Population: Neutral Increase: 18,195,000 (69th)
(2011 census): 16,655,799
The Netherlands Density: 520/km2 (1,346.8/sq mi) (33rd)
The Netherlands GDP (PPP): Increase $1.329 trillion (28th)
The Netherlands Per Capita: Increase $74,158 (11th)
GDP (nominal) 2024 Estimate Total: Increase $1.143 trillion (17th)
The Netherlands Per capita Increase $63,750 (11th)
The Netherlands Currency:
Euro (€) (EUR) United States dollar (US$) (USD)
The Netherlands Time Zone:
UTC+01:00 (CET)UTC−04:00 (AST)
Summer (DST)
UTC+02:00 (CEST)UTC−04:00 (AST)
The Netherlands Driving Side: right
The Netherlands Calling Code: +31, +599
The Netherlands Internet TLD: .nl, .bq