NOORD-HOLLAND - Population
A changing population structure
About one in six Dutch people live in North Holland. The population density is over eight times the European average. The population overspill is largely taken up by the neighbouring province of Flevoland. Population growth over the past 30 years has been roughly half the average for the country, and there is no sign of any change in the future.
The population structure has changed in the last ten years, with the proportion of young people falling by 4% and numbers of older people increasing by 5%. The ageing of the population combined with a trend towards independence has resulted in a wholly different composition of households. Numbers of single people living alone, both young and old, and single-parent families have risen, particularly in the cities - a phenomenon more evident in North Holland than in the rest of the country. The crude birth rate and the infant mortality rate are in line with the national averages.
Immigration (more than one fifth of the national immigration in 1999 concerned North-Holland) has given North Holland's towns in particular an international character, as reflected in the wide range of foreign restaurants, for example.
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