In 2021, more than 75 thousand people moved from the Randstad to a municipality outside of it. That is more than 5 thousand more than a year earlier. Conversely, 53 thousand people came to the Randstad to live there. This trend has been going on for some time; since 2017, more people have moved from the Randstad than there.
People aged 30 to 70 and children in particular left the Randstad more often than they moved there. People in their thirties formed the largest group last year: almost 9 thousand more people in their thirties moved from the Randstad to municipalities outside of it than in the opposite direction. Young adults aged 18 to 25 are more likely to move to the Randstad conurbation than the other way around, especially for study or work.
People who leave the Randstad mainly live in municipalities that are partly relatively close to the Randstad, such as Flevoland and the Rivierengebied, which also includes Culemborg. Other Randstad leavers move further away, for example to Drenthe, the Achterhoek and East Groningen.
By the way, CBS understands the provinces of Utrecht, South Holland and the southern part of North Holland as ‘Randstad’.