Very urbanised areas

In 2005 the Netherlands was divided into 467 municipalities, 2,491 districts and 11,286 neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods may differ substantially with respect to number of inhabitants and area. In urban areas neighbourhoods are usually smaller and have large numbers of inhabitants. Neighbourhoods in rural areas are large in area and have fewer inhabitants. The neighbourhoods with most inhabitants (e.g. Groot-IJsselmonde in Rotterdam with more than 26 thousand inhabitants) even have more inhabitants than nearly three hundred municipalities.

The percentage of benefit claimants is only calculated for neighbourhoods with more than 10 claimants and more than 50 inhabitants (according to the municipal population registration). The analyses of benefit claimants thus refer to the 9,820 neighbourhoods with at least 10 benefit claimants on the last Friday in September 2004 and at least 50 inhabitants on 1 January 2005. The analyses of income support benefits per 1,000 households in the article cover only the 10,349 neighbourhoods with at least 50 inhabitants on 1 January 2005.