Administrative divisions of the Netherlands

The Netherlands has several levels of administrative subdivisions. The first level of subdivision consists of 12 provinces.[1] The second level of subdivision consists of 342 municipalities.

The country is also subdivided into 21 water districts, governed by a water board (waterschap or hoogheemraadschap), each having authority in matters concerning water management.[2][3] Direct elections of the water boards take place every four years.

Group of provinces
Main article: nl:Landsdeel (Nederland)
Groups of provinces.

The Group of provinces (Dutch: landsdeel) is a European subdivision of the Netherlands. It meets the needs of Eurostat, the European statistical institute, which has defined a classification of territorial units for statistics. These groups correspond to the first European statistical level (NUTS 1).

There are four of them: Northern Netherlands, Eastern Netherlands, Western Netherlands and Southern Netherlands.[4]

Provinces
Main article: Provinces of the Netherlands
Province Coat of arms ISO Capital Largest municipality King's Commissioner Number of
municipalities
(2023)		 Total area[5] Land area[5] Population[5] Population density[5]
km2 mi2 km2 mi2
 Drenthe
Coat of arms of Drenthe
 NL-DR Assen Emmen Jetta Klijnsma (PvdA) 12 2,680 1,035 2,633 1,016
493,682
 188/km2 (490/sq mi)
 Flevoland
Coat of arms of Flevoland
 NL-FL Lelystad Almere Leen Verbeek (PvdA) 6 2,412 931 1,412 545
423,021
 300/km2 (780/sq mi)
 Friesland
Coat of arms of Friesland
 NL-FR Leeuwarden Arno Brok (VVD) 18 5,749 2,220 3,336 1,288
649,957
 195/km2 (510/sq mi)
 Gelderland
Coat of arms of Gelderland
 NL-GE Arnhem Nijmegen John Berends (CDA) 51 5,136 1,983 4,964 1,916
2,085,952
 420/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
 Groningen
Coat of arms of Groningen
 NL-GR Groningen René Paas (CDA) 10 2,960 1,143 2,324 897
585,866
 252/km2 (650/sq mi)
 Limburg
Coat of arms of Limburg
 NL-LI Maastricht Emile Roemer (SP) 31 2,210 853 2,147 829
1,117,201
 520/km2 (1,300/sq mi)
 North Brabant
Coat of arms of North Brabant
 NL-NB 's-Hertogenbosch Eindhoven Ina Adema (VVD) 56 5,082 1,962 4,905 1,894
2,562,955
 522/km2 (1,350/sq mi)
 North Holland
Coat of arms of North Holland
 NL-NH Haarlem Amsterdam Arthur van Dijk (VVD) 44 4,092 1,580 2,665 1,029
2,879,527
 1,081/km2 (2,800/sq mi)
 Overijssel
Coat of arms of Overijssel
 NL-OV Zwolle Enschede Andries Heidema (CU) 25 3,421 1,321 3,319 1,281
1,162,406
 350/km2 (910/sq mi)
 South Holland
Coat of arms of South Holland
 NL-ZH The Hague Rotterdam Jaap Smit (CDA) 50 3,308 1,277 2,700 1,043
3,708,696
 1,374/km2 (3,560/sq mi)
 Utrecht
Coat of arms of Utrecht
 NL-UT Utrecht Hans Oosters (PvdA) 26 1,560 602 1,485 574
1,354,834
 912/km2 (2,360/sq mi)
 Zeeland
Coat of arms of Zeeland
 NL-ZE Middelburg Terneuzen Han Polman (D66) 13 2,933 1,133 1,782 688
383,488
 215/km2 (560/sq mi)

COROP regions
Main article: COROP

A COROP region is a division of the Netherlands for statistical purposes, used by Statistics Netherlands, among others. The Dutch abbreviation stands for Coördinatiecommissie Regionaal Onderzoeksprogramma, literally the Coordination Commission Regional Research Programme. These divisions are also used in the EU designation as NUTS 3.

Water boards
Main article: Water board (Netherlands)
The 21 water boards in The Netherlands in 2019

Typically, a water board's territory is made up of one or more polders or watersheds. The territory of a water board generally covers several municipalities and may even include areas in two or more provinces. As of 2021, there are 21 water boards in The Netherlands. [6]

  1. Waterschap Noorderzijlvest (Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe)
  2. Wetterskip Fryslân (Friesland and Groningen)
  3. Waterschap Hunze en Aa's (Groningen and Drenthe)
  4. Waterschap Drents Overijsselse Delta (Drenthe and Overijssel)
  5. Waterschap Vechtstromen (Drenthe and Overijssel)
  6. Waterschap Vallei en Veluwe (Utrecht and Gelderland)
  7. Waterschap Rijn en IJssel (Gelderland)
  8. Hoogheemraadschap De Stichtse Rijnlanden (Utrecht and South Holland)
  9. Waterschap Amstel, Gooi en Vecht (North Holland, Utrecht and South Holland)
  10. Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier (North Holland)
  11. Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland (South Holland and North Holland)
  12. Hoogheemraadschap van Delfland (South Holland)
  13. Hoogheemraadschap van Schieland en de Krimpenerwaard (South Holland)
  14. Waterschap Rivierenland (South Holland, Gelderland, Utrecht and North Brabant)
  15. Waterschap Hollandse Delta (South Holland)
  16. Waterschap Scheldestromen (Zeeland)
  17. Waterschap Brabantse Delta (North Brabant)
  18. Waterschap De Dommel (North Brabant)
  19. Waterschap Aa en Maas (North Brabant)
  20. Waterschap Limburg (Limburg)
  21. Waterschap Zuiderzeeland (Flevoland)

Municipalities
Main article: Municipalities of the Netherlands
Municipalities of the Netherlands.

As of 1 January 2023, there are 342 municipalities (Dutch: gemeenten). Municipalities are the second-level administrative division in the Netherlands and are subdivisions of their respective provinces. Their duties are delegated to them by the central government and they are ruled by a municipal council that is elected every four years. Municipal mergers have reduced the total number of municipalities by two-thirds since the first official boundaries were created in the mid 19th century. Municipalities themselves are informally subdivided into districts and neighbourhoods for administrative and statistical purposes.

These municipalities come in a wide range of sizes, Westervoort is the smallest with a land area of 7.03 km2 (2.71 sq mi) and Súdwest-Fryslân the largest with a land area of 523.01 km2 (201.94 sq mi). Schiermonnikoog is both the least populated and the least densely populated municipality at 23/km2 (60/sq mi). Amsterdam has the highest population with over 900,000 residents (31 March 2022), whereas The Hague is the most densely populated with a density of 6,620/km2 (17,100/sq mi).

References
  1. Provinces of Netherlands
  2. "De waterschappen" (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  3. "Mijn waterschap" (in Dutch). Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  4. NUTS 2021 classification
  5. "Regionale kerncijfers Nederland" [Regional key figures Netherlands]. CBS Statline (in Dutch). CBS. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  6. "Zoek Waterschap". waterschappen.nl. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
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