On the contrary, there are signs of an increasing divergence in national and regional popu-lation developments. Activities of the combined authorities in Groningen are aimed at reversing ongoing developments, whereby the use of unorthodox methods is not shunned. The goal of this project is to flood agricultural land and also to create wooded areas, making the region an attractive residential and recreational site. In the near future, the population in the Dutch province of Limburg will stop growing and start to decline. Though this phenomenon already exists in a number of other countries, it is new for the Netherlands.
New challenges arise in a variety of political issues, labour market and economics, in particular.
The province of Limburg in the south of the country will be the first region to be faced with population decline. The time to prepare new policies in this part of the country is limited. The examination of the implications of demographic developments for housing and spatial allocation should not only consider population size but also population composition. Dutch housing policy has not adequately responded to changes in the relative size of groups within the population, such as the proportion of older adults and the proportion of singles. A plea for a more optimal use of the existing housing stock is made.