More and more residents of the Randstad move out

In 2020, the trend to move out of the Randstad to other regions of the Netherlands continued. Overall, in the past year 13 thousand more people moved out of the Randstad than moved in.

The Statistics Netherlands reports that more people have been moving out of areas in the Randstad, such as Amsterdam and Utrecht and moving to more regional areas such as Flevoland, Gelderland and Overijssel since 2015. Regions in the national periphery, such as Limburg and Zeeland have become popular destinations for ex-inhabitants of the Randstad.

The exodus from the Randstad seemed to slow down in 2018, but gained steam again last year. The stats office partly attributes this to recent changes in work and lifestyle habits brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.Many have expressed the need for more space outside of the home. Work-from-home is also believed to become a more permanent phenomenon. Therefore, more people have the option to live further away from their workplace.

The Randstad remains popular among young adults in their twenties, but people over 30 are more likely to move out of the Randstad again. 2020 marked a sharp increase in the number of 50- to 60-year-old who chose to move out of the Randstad.

People in their 60s are still most likely to move out of the Randstad. In 2020, 18 percent of all 60- to 70-year-olds who relocated, moved to a region outside of the Randstad.