Population of the Netherlands by type of area: in urban centres is the largest part, 49% in 2020

Breakdown in 2020: in urban centres 49%, in towns and suburbs (urban clusters) 35%, in rural areas 16%. Total: 17.4 million people.

Source: GHSL (JRC), landenstatistieken R2024A, werkblad POP_L1 · opgehaald 25 oktober 2026 · selection: Indeling naar DEGURBA stap 1: stedelijk centrum, stedelijk cluster, landelijkOpen the table Single block

These figures come from

Global Human Settlement Layer

Joint Research Centre (Europese Commissie)

Raster maps of the whole world: how much is built up and how many people live there, per 100-metre or 1-kilometre cell, for 1975, 1980 and so on up to 2030. Made from satellite images and censuses, the same way for every country.

This block is an example of what you can show with this source. Open the source itself to look further, pick other figures or use the data in your own work.

Open the table at JRC The API call behind this block All about this source

Access: Open
Licence: CC BY 4.0
Table: GHS-COUNTRY-STATS_MT_GLOBE_R2024_V1_0.xlsx (POP_L1)
Latest figure: 2020
Fetched: 25 October 2026

Fetch exactly these figures yourself

curl "https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/GHSL/GHS_COUNTRY_STATS_MT_GLOBE_R2024A/V1-0/GHS_COUNTRY_STATS_MT_GLOBE_R2024A.zip"

Population of the Netherlands by type of area: in urban centres is the largest part, 49% in 2020

More in this topic

Population by marital status: never married is the largest part, 50% in 2026

Population by country of origin: the Netherlands is the largest part, 71% in 2026

Households by composition: living alone is the largest part, 40% in 2026

Population by age: 40 to 65 is the largest part, 32% in 2026

Population growth: highest in Woudenberg and 1 other municipality (2.3%), lowest in Westerwolde (-7.9%)

People aged 80 or over in the Netherlands: 957 thousand in 2026, 9.6 times as much as in 1950