Over 13 million people can vote in the provincial elections on March 15

Nearly 13.3 million people will be allowed to vote in the upcoming Provincial Council elections on March 15, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported based on provisional figures. Among the eligible voters are 800,000 young people voting for their Provincial Council for the first time.

Over the past 20 years, the voting population has aged. This year, almost 27 percent are 65 years old or older. In 2023 it was just over 18 percent. The municipality of Laren has the oldest voting population, with 40.7 percent being over 65.

A quarter of voters are younger than 35. “These young voters relatively often live in cities, especially in student cities. Other municipalities with a young population entitled to vote are Urk (37.3 percent), Renswoude (29.7 percent), and Staphorst (29.5 percent). The provinces of Groningen and Utrecht have the highest proportion of young voters,” said CBS.

Of all people aged 18 or older in the Netherlands, 91.6 percent are eligible to vote in the upcoming elections on March 15. In the previous Provincial Council election in 2019, that was 93.3 percent. According to CBS, the decrease is because more people have joined the Dutch population in recent years who do not have Dutch nationality yet, like ex-pats and asylum seekers still in the asylum process.

Residents of the Caribbean Netherlands and Dutch nationals living abroad can also vote through electoral colleges. According to CBS, there are 14,600 voters on Bonaire, 1,900 on Sint Eustatius, and 900 on Saba.