The Dutch are attached to the place where they are born and tend to remain living in the same locality as their family, according to new research on migration within the Netherlands by the Meertens Institute.

For example, 72% of the people who were born in Zuid Limburg at the beginning of the 20th century still have a great-grandchild in the area, the research shows. Zeelanders (60%) and Frisians (70%) are also more likely to live in the same province as their great-grandparents.

‘People tend to stay put in regions with their own dialect and culture, such as Friesland, Twente and Zuid Limburg,’ researcher Gert Bloothooft told the Volkskrant.

Church

Few people also tend to leave strictly Protestant areas such as Staphorst and Urk, Blothooft said. In addition, the closed nature of these communities makes it difficult for people to move in.

In other places, there is a high turnover of residents. Hardly any of the people living in Rozendaal in Gelderland were born there and the same applies to the so-called millionaire towns of Bloemendaal and Blaricum in Noord Holland.

‘You need a lot of money to live there,’ Bloothooft told the paper.