Provinces of the Netherlands
English name Dutch name Capital Territory contained
Department of the Ems Departement van de Eems Leeuwarden Northern Friesland , Groningen
Department of the Old IJssel Departement van de Oude IJssel Zwolle Southern Friesland , Drenthe , Overijssel , Northern Gelderland
Department of the Rhine Departement van de Rijn Arnhem Central Gelderland , Eastern Utrecht
Department of the Amstel Departement van de Amstel Amsterdam Area around Amsterdam
Department of Texel Departement van Texel Alkmaar Northern Holland minus Amsterdam , Northwestern Utrecht
Department of the Delft Departement van de Delft Delft Southern Holland up to the Meuse , Southwestern Utrecht
Department of the Dommel Departement van de Dommel 's-Hertogenbosch Eastern Batavian Brabant , Southern Gelderland
Department of the Scheldt and Meuse Departement van de Schelde en Maas Middelburg Zeeland , Southern Holland under the Meuse and Western Batavian Brabant
History -- French period
During the Batavian Republic , the Netherlands was from 1798 to 1801 completely reorganised into eight new departments , most named after rivers , inspired by the French revolutionary example , in an attempt to do away with the old semi-autonomous status of the provinces . They are listed below , with their capitals and the territory of the former provinces that they mostly incorporated :
There are twelve provinces of the Netherlands (Dutch: provincies van Nederland), representing the administrative layer between the national government and the local municipalities, with responsibility for matters of subnational or regional importance. The most populous province is South Holland, with just over 3.7 million inhabitants as of November 2019, and also the most densely populated province with 1,317/km2. With 383,689 inhabitants, Zeeland has the smallest population. However Drenthe is the least densely populated province with 188/km2. In terms of area, Friesland is the largest province with a total area of 5,749 km2 (2,220 sq mi). If water is excluded, Gelderland is the largest province in terms of area at 4,967 km2 (1,918 sq mi). The province of Utrecht is the smallest in land area at 1,380 km2 (530 sq mi). In total about 10,000 people were employed by the provincial administrations in 2018. The provinces of the Netherlands are joined in the Association of Provinces of the Netherlands (IPO). This organisation promotes the common interests of the provinces in the national government of the Netherlands in The Hague.