Municipalities of the Netherlands

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All provinces of the Netherlands are divided into municipalities (gemeenten), together 467 (2005); among these we can distinguish:

those comprising one main city, town or village with the same name as the municipality, and possibly some additional villages; for example
- Utrecht, comprising the city Utrecht and the villages De Meern, Haarzuilens, Vleuten.
- Valkenburg (South Holland), just a small village, yet a municipality by itself.
those comprising several villages, none with the name of the municipality; in that case the name of the municipality may not be as well-known outside it as the villages; for example:
- Albrandswaard comprising the villages of Poortugaal and Rhoon.
those with a double name, comprising (mainly) the two towns or villages in the name, for example:
- Berkel en Rodenrijs, comprising the villages Berkel and Rodenrijs.
those comprising a main town and additional villages, yet the municipality is not named after this town; for example:
- Smallingerland with main town Drachten.
- Haarlemmermeer with main town Hoofddorp.

Recent politics have led to a great number of mergers between smaller municipalities or with cities.

In 2005 the number of municipalities was reduced by 16: 7 were each added to an existing municipality, and four new municipalities were formed by merging 5, 4, 2, and 2 municipalities.

All municipalities are listed in the province articles, see: