Provinces of the Netherlands | |
---|---|
Category | Unitary unit |
Location | Kingdom of the Netherlands |
Number | 12 provinces 3 special municipalities |
Populations | Least: Zeeland, 391,124 Most: South Holland, 3,804,906 |
Areas | Smallest (including water): Utrecht, 1,560 km2 (602 sq mi) Largest (including water): Friesland, 5,753 km2 (2,221 sq mi) |
Government | |
Subdivisions |
There are twelve provinces of the Netherlands representing the administrative layer between the national government and the local governments, with responsibility for matters of subnational or regional importance.
The most populous province is South Holland, with just over 3.8 million inhabitants as of January 2023 [update] , and also the most densely populated province with 1,410/km2 (3,700/sq mi). [1] With 391,124 inhabitants, Zeeland has the smallest population. However Drenthe is the least densely populated province with 191/km2 (490/sq mi). In terms of area, Friesland is the largest province with a total area of 5,753 km2 (2,221 sq mi). If water is excluded, Gelderland is the largest province by land area at 4,960 km2 (1,915 sq mi). The province of Utrecht is the smallest with a total area of 1,560 km2 (602 sq mi), while Flevoland is the smallest by land area at 1,410 km2 (544 sq mi). In total about 10,000 people were employed by the provincial administrations in 2018. [2]
The provinces of the Netherlands are joined in the Association of Provinces of the Netherlands (IPO). This organisation promotes the common interests of the provinces in the national government of the Netherlands in The Hague.
The government of each province consists of three major parts:
Part of the Politics series |
Politicsportal |
The members of the provincial council are elected every four years in direct elections. To a large extent, the same political parties are enlisted in these elections in the national elections. The chosen provincial legislators elect the members of the national Senate within three months after the provincial elections. The elections for the water boards take place on the same date as the provincial elections.
The last provincial elections were held in 2023. The next provincial elections are scheduled for 2027.
The provinces of the Netherlands have seven core tasks: [4]
To a large extent, the provinces of the Netherlands are financed by the national government. Also, provinces have income from a part of the Vehicle Excise Duty. Several provinces have made a large profit in the past from privatising utility companies originally owned or partly owned by the provinces. Essent, which was originally owned by six provinces and more than a hundred municipalities, was sold for around 9.3 billion euros. [5]
The constituent country of the Netherlands, being the largest part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is divided into twelve provinces (provincies in Dutch) and three overseas special municipalities; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba in the Caribbean Netherlands that are not part of any province. Previously these were part of public bodies (openbare lichamen).
Flag | Location | Province | Capital | Largest municipality | King's Commissioner | Political party | Municipalities (since 2023) | Total area [1] | Land area [1] | Water area [1] | Population (1 January 2023) [1] | Density Land [1] | GRDP in million euros (2019) [6] | GRDP per capita (€; 2019) [6] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
km2 | mi2 | km2 | mi2 | km2 | mi2 | /km2 | /mi2 | |||||||||||
Drenthe | Assen | Emmen | Jetta Klijnsma | PvdA | 12 | 2,680 | 1,035 | 2,633 | 1,016 | 48 | 18 | 502,051 | 191 | 490 | 15,701 | 31,853 | ||
Flevoland | Lelystad | Almere | Arjen Gerritsen | VVD | 6 | 2,412 | 931 | 1,410 | 544 | 1,002 | 387 | 444,701 | 315 | 820 | 14,756 | 35,151 | ||
Friesland | Leeuwarden | Arno Brok | VVD | 18 | 5,753 | 2,221 | 3,340 | 1,290 | 2,413 | 932 | 659,551 | 197 | 510 | 20,728 | 31,947 | |||
Gelderland | Arnhem | Nijmegen | John Berends | CDA | 51 | 5,136 | 1,983 | 4,960 | 1,915 | 176 | 68 | 2,133,708 | 430 | 1,100 | 81,757 | 39,326 | ||
Groningen | Groningen | René Paas | CDA | 10 | 2,955 | 1,141 | 2,316 | 894 | 639 | 247 | 596,075 | 257 | 670 | 24,669 | 42,174 | |||
Limburg | Maastricht | Emile Roemer | SP | 31 | 2,210 | 853 | 2,145 | 828 | 65 | 25 | 1,128,367 | 526 | 1,360 | 45,848 | 41,058 | |||
North Brabant | 's-Hertogenbosch [upper-alpha 1] | Eindhoven | Ina Adema | VVD | 56 | 5,082 | 1,962 | 4,902 | 1,892 | 181 | 70 | 2,626,210 | 536 | 1,390 | 120,869 | 47,328 | ||
North Holland | Haarlem [upper-alpha 2] | Amsterdam [upper-alpha 2] | Arthur van Dijk | VVD | 44 | 4,092 | 1,580 | 2,663 | 1,028 | 1,429 | 552 | 2,952,622 | 1,109 | 2,870 | 177,733 | 62,005 | ||
Overijssel | Zwolle | Enschede | Andries Heidema | CU | 25 | 3,421 | 1,321 | 3,317 | 1,281 | 104 | 40 | 1,184,333 | 357 | 920 | 45,517 | 39,258 | ||
South Holland | The Hague [upper-alpha 3] | Rotterdam | Jaap Smit | CDA | 50 | 3,308 | 1,277 | 2,698 | 1,042 | 609 | 235 | 3,804,906 | 1,410 | 3,700 | 169,118 | 45,815 | ||
Utrecht | Utrecht | Hans Oosters | PvdA | 26 | 1,560 | 602 | 1,484 | 573 | 76 | 29 | 1,387,643 | 935 | 2,420 | 77,445 | 57,431 | |||
Zeeland | Middelburg | Terneuzen | Han Polman | D66 | 13 | 2,933 | 1,133 | 1,780 | 687 | 1,154 | 445 | 391,124 | 220 | 570 | 14,391 | 37,549 | ||
Netherlands | Amsterdam | 342 | 41,543 | 16,040 | 33,647 | 12,991 | 7,896 | 3,049 | 17,811,291 | 529 | 1,370 | 810,247 | 46,714 |
Notes
HistoryNearly all Dutch provinces can trace their origin to a medieval county or duchy, as can the provinces of regions in Belgium. Their status changed when they came under a single ruler who centralised their administration, reducing their powers. There were 17 in total: from these unified Netherlands, seven northern provinces from 1588 formed the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, namely Holland, Zeeland, Gelderland, Utrecht, Friesland, Overijssel and Groningen. The Republic's lands also included Drenthe (one of the 17, but without the autonomous status of the others), and parts of the Duchy of Brabant, Duchy of Limburg and County of Flanders, which were considered to be "conquered lands" and were governed directly by the States General, hence their name Generality Lands. They were called Staats-Brabant, Staats-Limburg and Staats-Vlaanderen, meaning "governed by the States General". Each of these "Netherlands" had a high degree of autonomy, cooperating with each other mainly on defense and foreign relations, but otherwise keeping to their own affairs. On 1 January 1796, under the Batavian Republic, Drenthe and Staats-Brabant became the eighth and ninth provinces of the Netherlands. The latter, which had been known as Bataafs Brabant (English: Batavian Brabant), changed its name to Noord-Brabant, North Brabant, in 1815 when it became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which also contained (then) South Brabant, a province now in Belgium. This new unified state featured the provinces in their modern form, as non-autonomous subdivisions of the national state, and again numbering 17, though they were not all the same as the 16th century ones. In 1839, following the separation of Belgium, the province of Limburg was divided between the two countries, each now having a province called Limburg. A year later, Holland, the largest and most populous of the Dutch provinces, was also split into two provinces, for a total of 11. The 12th province to be created was Flevoland, consisting almost entirely of reclaimed land, established on 1 January 1986. French periodDuring the Batavian Republic, the Netherlands was from 1798 to 1801 completely reorganised into eight new departments, most named after rivers, inspired by the French revolutionary example, in an attempt to do away with the old semi-autonomous status of the provinces. They are listed below, with their capitals and the territory of the former provinces that they mostly incorporated:
After only three years, following a coup d'état, the borders of the former provinces were restored, though not their autonomous status. They were now also called "departments" and Drenthe was added to Overijssel. In 1806 the Kingdom of Holland replaced the republic to further French interests. It was during this administration that Holland was first split in two, with the department of Amstelland to the north and that of Maasland to the south. East Frisia, then as now in Germany, was added to the kingdom as a department in 1807 and Drenthe split off again making a total of 11 departments. When the Netherlands finally did become fully part of France in 1810, the departments of the kingdom and their borders were largely maintained, with some joined. They were however nearly all renamed, again mainly after rivers, though the names differed from their Batavian counterparts. Following are their names and the modern day province they mostly correspond to:
With the defeat and withdrawal of the French in 1813, the old provinces and their names were re-established, Holland was reunited and East-Frisia went its separate way. The 17 provinces of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands were for a significant part based on the former French departments and their borders, in particular in what would later become Belgium.[ citation needed ] There is continuous discussion within the Netherlands about the future of the provinces. Before 2014, the national government was planning to merge the provinces Flevoland, North Holland and Utrecht into a single province Noordvleugelprovincie . Due to significant protest the plan was abandoned. [8] See alsoRelated Research ArticlesSouth Holland is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about 1,410/km2 (3,700/sq mi), making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. Situated on the North Sea in the west of the Netherlands, South Holland covers an area of 3,308 km2 (1,277 sq mi), of which 609 km2 (235 sq mi) is water. It borders North Holland to the north, Utrecht and Gelderland to the east, and North Brabant and Zeeland to the south. The provincial capital is the Dutch seat of government The Hague, while its largest city is Rotterdam. The Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta drains through South Holland into the North Sea. Europe's busiest seaport, the Port of Rotterdam, is located in South Holland. Groningen is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. It borders on Friesland to the west, Drenthe to the south, the German state of Lower Saxony to the east, and the Wadden Sea to the north. As of January 2023, Groningen had a population of about 596,000, and a total area of 2,955 km2 (1,141 sq mi). Zeeland is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the southwest of the country, borders North Brabant to the east, South Holland to the north, as well as the country of Belgium to the south and west. It consists of a number of islands and peninsulas and a strip bordering the Flemish provinces of East and West Flanders. Its capital is Middelburg with a population of 48,544 as of November 2019, although the largest municipality in Zeeland is Terneuzen. Zeeland has two seaports: Vlissingen and Terneuzen. Its area is 2,933 square kilometres (1,132 sq mi), of which 1,154 square kilometres (446 sq mi) is water; it had a population of about 391,000 as of January 2023. Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of January 2023, Drenthe had a population of about 502,000, and a total area of 2,680 km2 (1,030 sq mi). The Kingdom of Belgium is divided into three regions. Two of these regions, Flanders and Wallonia, are each subdivided into five provinces. The third region, Brussels, does not belong to any province and nor is it subdivided into provinces. Instead, it has amalgamated both regional and provincial functions into a single "Capital Region" administration. Dalsland is a Swedish traditional province, or landskap, situated in Götaland in southern Sweden. Lying to the west of Lake Vänern, it is bordered by Värmland to the north, Västergötland to the southeast, Bohuslän to the west, and Norway to the northwest. Since 1 January 2023, there have been 342 regular municipalities and three special municipalities in the Netherlands. The latter is the status of three of the six island territories that make up the Dutch Caribbean. Municipalities are the second-level administrative division, or public bodies, 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. Zambia is divided into 10 provinces for administrative purposes. Each province is headed by a minister appointed by the President and there are ministries of central government for each province. The administrative head of each province is the Permanent Secretary, appointed by the President. There are Deputy Permanent Secretary, heads of government departments and civil servants at the provincial level. Mardan Division is one of the seven divisions in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It consists of two districts: Mardan and Swabi. According to the 2017 Pakistani Census, the division had a population of 3,997,667, making it the fourth-most populous division in the province. However, it only spans 3,175 km2 (1,226 sq mi) of area, which makes it the smallest division by area in the province as well. Mardan, with over 350,000 people, is the division's namesake and most populous city. The division borders Hazara Division, Malakand Division, and Peshawar Division. The division does not have a single public airport. CNIC code of Mardan Division is 16. The Netherlands has several levels of administrative subdivisions. The first level of subdivision consists of 12 provinces. The second level of subdivision consists of 342 municipalities. Costa Rica is administratively divided into seven provinces which are subdivided into 84 cantons, and these are further subdivided into districts. Cantons are the only administrative division in Costa Rica that possess local government in the form of municipalities. Each municipality has its own mayor and several representatives, all of them chosen via municipal elections every four years. The politics of the Dutch provinces takes places within the framework of the politics of the Netherlands. The province is the second-highest level of government, after the national government. The Netherlands is divided into twelve provinces. In the Republic of Austria, the municipality is the administrative division encompassing a single village, town, or city. The municipality has corporate status and local self-government on the basis of parliamentary-style representative democracy: a municipal council elected through a form of party-list system enacts municipal laws, a municipal executive board and a mayor appointed by the council are in charge of municipal administration. Austria is currently partitioned into 2,095 municipalities, ranging in population from about fifty to almost two million. There is no unincorporated territory in Austria. References
External links |