Municipalities in the Netherlands

All provinces of the Netherlands are divided into municipalities (gemeenten), together 489; among these we can distinguish:

• those comprising one main city, town or village with the same name as the municipality, and possibly some additional villages; for example
  • Utrecht, comprising the city Utrecht and the villages De Meern, Haarzuilens, Vleuten.
  • Valkenburg (South Holland), just a small village, yet a municipality by itself.
• those comprising several villages, none with the name of the municipality; in that case the name of the municipality may not be as well-known outside it as the villages; for example:
  • Albrandswaard comprising the villages of Poortugaal and Rhoon.
• those with a double name, comprising (mainly) the two towns or villages in the name, for example:
  • Berkel en Rodenrijs, comprising the villages Berkel and Rodenrijs.
• those comprising a main town and additional villages, yet the municipality is not named after this town; for example:
  • Smallingerland with main town Drachten.
  • Haarlemmermeer with main town Hoofddorp.

Recent politics have led to a great number of mergers between smaller municipalities or with cities.

All municipalities are listed in the province articles, see:

• Drenthe
• Flevoland
• Friesland
• Gelderland
• Groningen
• Limburg
• North Brabant
• North Holland
• Overijssel
• South Holland
• Utrecht
• Zeeland

See also Cities of the Netherlands.