Young families are leaving the cities for nearby towns

Messing about in boats. Photo: DutchNews.nl
Messing about in boats. Photo: DutchNews.nl

Many young families have moved out of the Netherlands’ bigger cities for nearby towns and villages over the past two years, the national statistics office CBS said on Thursday.

The population shift is mainly made up of well-off families with children under the age of four, the CBS said. Poorer families are less likely to move.

Although Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht are all affected, Amsterdam has lost more of its young families than the other main cities.

In 2015, 10% (2,000) of the Dutch capital’s families with young children moved out, compared with 6% in 2012. Most of them headed to Amstelveen,  Haarlem, Het Gooi, Zaanstad and the Haarlemmermeer area.

Once children start attending primary school, families are less likely to move, the CBS said. And cities are continuing to grow because of the arrival of young singles and couples and new immigrants.

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