Holland is empty

16:31 mareku 0 Comments

At 404 inhabitants per square kilometer, the Netherlands is one of the most densely populated nations in the world. The country’s population density, over 23 times the global average, is a factor in the national discussion on immigration, arming proponents of stricter rules with the slogan “Nederland is vol” (“The Netherlands is full”). While that sounds conversation-stoppingly irrefutable, the premise of that particular political slogan is easily proved wrong – with these maps made by Rem Koolhaasmad. The top map shows how full the Netherlands would be if its 15 million-strong population would be concentrated in the density of Los Angeles. Repeating that experiment with the population density of  LA, the second map shows how all of the Netherlands’ inhabitants would live cheek-by-jowl in an area no larger than 600 km2, which would occupy no more than 1.44% of the total territory of the Netherlands – concentrated in the south of the country’s Limburg panhandle. The third map unwraps that same area to a strip along the 345 km-long (214 mile) Belgian-Dutch border, which would be no wider than 1.75 km (1.08 mile)...
I guess the Netherlands is really empty!