Not surprisingly, the capital of the Netherlands is also its largest city. At around *******, Amsterdam has over ******* inhabitants more than the second-largest city in the country, Rotterdam. The Hague and Utrecht, the third and fourth-largest cities in the Netherlands, together have approximately as many inhabitants as Amsterdam alone. Amsterdam and the pressure on the housing market A rapidly growing city, Amsterdam’s population increased from roughly ***** thousand to around ***** thousand in the last decade. This has created pressure on the real estate market, where average rent and housing prices have skyrocketed. In the first quarter of 2010, the average rent of residential property amounted to roughly ***** euros per square meter. In the first quarter of 2021, this had increased to over ***** euros per square meter.  2030 Outlook  In the nearby future, Amsterdam is set to remain the Netherlands’ largest city. According to a recent forecast, by 2030 Amsterdam will have broken the barrier of one million inhabitants. Rotterdam, Den Haag and Utrecht are forecast to grow too, albeit at a much lower pace. In 2030, Rotterdam is expected to reach just under ******* inhabitants.

This statistic shows the largest urban settlements in the Netherlands in 2021. In 2021, around 1.13 million people lived in Amsterdam, making it the largest city in the Netherlands. Population of the Netherlands With the global financial crisis in 2008 as well as the Euro zone crisis, many countries in Europe suffered a great economic impact. In spite of the crisis, the Netherlands maintained a stable economy over the past decade. The country's unemployment rate, for example, has been kept at a relatively low level in comparison to other countries in Europe also affected by the economic crisis. In 2014, Spain had an unemployment rate of more than 25 percent. The Netherlands' population has also seen increases in growth in comparison to previous years, with the figures slowly decreasing since 2011. As a result of the increase in population, the degree of urbanization - which is the share of the population living in urban areas - has increased, while the size of the labor force in the Netherlands has been relatively stable over the past decade. The population density of inhabitants per square kilometer in the Netherlands has also increased. Large cities in the Netherlands have experienced the impact of the population density growth and increase in the size of the labor force first hand. Three cities in the Netherlands have over half a million residents (as can be seen above). Additionally, more and more visitors are coming to the kingdom: The number of tourists in the Netherlands has increased significantly since 2001, a change which has also impacted the country's metropolises. Due to its location and affordable accommodation prices, the country’s tourism industry is developing and the largest cities in the Netherlands are taking advantage of it.

Population in largest city in Netherlands was reported at 1181817 in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Netherlands - Population in largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

Netherlands NL: Population in Largest City data was reported at 1,123,080.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 1,114,536.000 Person for 2016. Netherlands NL: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 970,475.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,123,080.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 922,076.000 Person in 1983. Netherlands NL: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Netherlands – Table NL.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; ;

Population in the largest city (% of urban population) in Netherlands was reported at 7.0274 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Netherlands - Population in the largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

Government city The Hague was the most densely populated city in the Netherlands in 2019, with a population density of nearly 6,500 people per square kilometer. Perhaps surprisingly, Amsterdam is not the most densely populated city in the country, ranking fourth on the list of most populous cities in the Netherlands in 2019.

According to this population forecast, in 2030 Amsterdam will remain the largest city in the Netherlands. It is forecast that the capital will have over one million inhabitants in 2030. Rotterdam, currently the second-largest city in the country, will keep its spot. By 2030, the population of Rotterdam is expected to reach just under 700,000 people.

Netherlands NL: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 7.063 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 7.087 % for 2016. Netherlands NL: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 9.364 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.659 % in 1960 and a record low of 7.063 % in 2017. Netherlands NL: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Netherlands – Table NL.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; Weighted Average;

This statistic shows the average number of months a house is for sale in the largest cities in the Netherlands in the second quarter of 2017. In the second quarter of 2017, it would take approximately 10 months to sell a house in Amsterdam. In the four largest municipalities, the demand of housing outweighs the supply. In December 2016, the average number of houses for sale in the municipality of Amsterdam was approximately 1,800 with this number reaching an average of 4,300 in December 2014.

This statistic shows the vacancy rate of retail stores in the four largest cities in the Netherlands in 2016 and 2018, by city. As of 2016, roughly 11 percent of the retail stores in Utrecht were vacant. In 2018, this had increased to 12 percent.

Paris was Western Europe's largest city in 1650, with an estimated 400 thousand inhabitants, which is almost double it's population 150 years previously. In second place is London, with 350 thousand inhabitants, however it has grown by a substantially higher rate than Paris during this time, now seven times larger than it was in the year 1500. Naples remains in the top three largest cities, growing from 125 to 300 thousand inhabitants during this time. In the previous list, the Italian cities of Milan and Venice were the only other cities with more than one hundred thousand inhabitants, however in this list they have been joined by the trading centers of Lisbon and Amsterdam, the capital cities of the emerging Portuguese and Dutch maritime empires.

This dataset contains the results of various elections in the four major cities and the Netherlands, broken down by political groups, turnout rates and distribution of seats.

In 2023, Zuid-Holland was the most populated province in the Netherlands, with over 3.8 million inhabitants. That was over 800,000 inhabitants more than runner-up Noord-Holland, the province in which also the capital Amsterdam is located. That year, Amsterdam’s population alone made up 863,000 of Noord-Holland’s nearly three million inhabitants.

 Zuid-Holland   

Zuid-Holland’s largest city is Rotterdam, home to approximately 645,000 people. The third largest city in the Netherlands, Den Haag (or The Hague, as internationals would know it) is also located in Zuid-Holland. The city, which hosts the Dutch government as well as many international organizations, reached a population of roughly 538,000 in 2019.

Utrecht and Eindhoven  

 Completing the top five of the largest cities in the Netherlands are Utrecht and Eindhoven, located in the provinces Utrecht and Noord-Brabant. The city of Utrecht had nearly 353,000 inhabitants in 2019, or roughly one quarter of the entire population of the province bearing the same name. Eindhoven’s population reached nearly 232,000 that year, but as Noord-Brabant boasts two more of the largest cities in the country, Eindhoven plays a less central role in its own province as Utrecht does, despite being home to both Philips and one of the most successful football clubs in Dutch history, PSV Eindhoven.

Rent prices per square meter in the largest Dutch cities have been on an upward trend after a slight decline in 2020. Amsterdam remained the most expensive city to live in, averaging a monthly rent of 27.6 euros per square meter for residential real estate in the private rental sector. Monthly rents in Utrecht were around six euros cheaper per square meter. Both cities were above the average rent price of residential property in the Netherlands overall, whereas Rotterdam and The Hague were slightly below that. Buying versus renting, what do the Dutch prefer? The Netherlands is one of Europe’s leading countries when it comes to homeownership, having funded this with a mortgage. In 2023, around 60 percent of people living in the Netherlands were homeowners with a mortgage. This is because Dutch homeowners were able to for many years to deduct interest paid from pre-tax income (a system known in the Netherlands as hypotheekrenteaftrek). This resulted in the Netherlands having one of the largest mortgage debts across the European continent. Total mortgage debt of Dutch households reached a value of approximately 803 billion euros in 2023. Is the Dutch housing market overheating? There are several indicators for the Netherlands that allow to investigate whether the housing market is overheating or not. House price indices corrected for inflation in the Netherlands suggest, for example, that prices have declined since 2022. The Netherlands’ house-price-to-rent-ratio, on the other hand, has exceeded the pre-crisis level in 2019. These figures, however, are believed to be significantly higher for cities like Amsterdam, as it was suggested for a long time that the prices of owner-occupied houses were increasing faster than rents in the private rental sector.

This statistic shows the degree of urbanization in the Netherlands from 2013 to 2023 and details the percentage of the entire population, living in urban areas. In 2023, 93.18 percent of the total population of the Netherlands lived in cities. Population of the Netherlands The Netherlands is a developed country with a high standard of living. Owing to a fairly steady fertility rate, the total population of the Netherlands has only slightly increased over the past decade. A look at the population growth in the Netherlands shows that growth has been less than 1 percent at some points, and has even decreased to less than 0.5 percent at other intervals over the past few years. Population density in the Netherlands has increased very slightly accordingly, with the majority of the population living in cities, the largest being Amsterdam in terms of residents, closely followed by Rotterdam. The median age of the Netherlands’ population (i.e. one half of the population is older, while the other one is younger) has increased significantly since the 1980s, which is indicative of a high life expectancy among inhabitants. The Netherlands is currently ranked 16th on a ranking of the 20 countries with the highest life expectancy worldwide. The Netherlands is also among the countries with the highest GDP in the world, and is thus one of the leading economies. The majority of the workforce is employed in the services sector, generating the majority of gross domestic product. The labor force of the Netherlands consists of more than 8 million employed persons, and the unemployment rate has been increasing since the economic crisis in 2008. The crisis has also been visible in the inflation rate in the Netherlands over the past few years; on the other hand, trade balance figures show that the Dutch economy has been recovering steadily.

Amsterdam is the largest city in the Netherlands, with a population amounting to over 918,100 inhabitants. In the last ten years, Amsterdam’s population increased rapidly, and the end is not yet in sight. By 2030, the number of inhabitants is forecast to reach over one million.

 Amsterdam and tourism  

Amsterdam is not just a popular place to settle down, it is also one of Europe’s leading city trip destinations. In 2020, tourists spent nearly 5.8 million nights in the city. Europe’s most popular capitals, London and Paris, registered roughly 20.77 and 14.13 million nights, respectively. In 2019, Amsterdam ranked 10th on the list of leading European city tourism destinations, just below Vienna and Prague.
   Tourism boom  

Tourism in Amsterdam is booming. In the last ten years, the number of tourists visiting the capital has doubled. In 2018, the city registered nearly 8.6 million hotel guests. The largest group of guests visiting Amsterdam were tourists from the U.K. (three million hotel nights), followed by domestic tourists and tourists from the US (2.9 and two million hotel nights, respectively).

All cities with a population > 1000 or seats of adm div (ca 80.000)Sources and ContributionsSources : GeoNames is aggregating over hundred different data sources. Ambassadors : GeoNames Ambassadors help in many countries. Wiki : A wiki allows to view the data and quickly fix error and add missing places. Donations and Sponsoring : Costs for running GeoNames are covered by donations and sponsoring.Enrichment:add country name

This statistic shows the vacant shop floor area of retail stores in the four largest cities in the Netherlands in 2016 and 2018, by city (in square meters). As of 2016, roughly 77,000 square meters of retail stores in Amsterdam were vacant. In 2018, this had decreased to just over 70,000 square meters.

NL：最大城市人口在12-01-2017达1,123,080.000人，相较于12-01-2016的1,114,536.000人有所增长。NL：最大城市人口数据按年更新，12-01-1960至12-01-2017期间平均值为970,475.500人，共58份观测结果。该数据的历史最高值出现于12-01-2017，达1,123,080.000人，而历史最低值则出现于12-01-1983，为922,076.000人。CEIC提供的NL：最大城市人口数据处于定期更新的状态，数据来源于World Bank，数据归类于Global Database的荷兰 – 表 NL.世界银行：人口和城市化进程统计。

In the last decade, the population of the city of Utrecht increased by roughly 70,000. In 2009, Utrecht had approximately 300,000 inhabitants. By 2023, the number of inhabitants had grown to over 368,000. This was approximately one quarter of the total population of the province of the same name, of which the city of Utrecht is the capital. In 2021, the province of Utrecht had roughly 1.37 million inhabitants, making it the fifth-largest province in the country after South and North Holland, North Brabant and Gelderland.

 Fourth-largest city in the Netherlands   

With its 360 thousand inhabitants, Utrecht is one of the largest cities in the country. The capital, Amsterdam, is the largest city in the Netherlands, with roughly 873,000 inhabitants, followed by Rotterdam and The Hague. Utrecht follows in fourth place.

Rabobank and NS headquarters  

Utrecht is home to a large number of internationally operating companies, of which Dutch bank Rabobank is just one. One of the leading banks in the country, Rabobank had nearly 450 branches nationwide in 2018. The Rabobank headquarters are in Utrecht though, as are the headquarters of the national railway organization (NS). Utrecht also has the largest railway station in the country, receiving an average of nearly 272.8 thousand passengers every working day.