Main Information

Limburg
The Province of Limburg is the most southern province of the Netherlands (2,209 km 2, which is  5.3 % of total Dutch area). The number of inhabitants is 1,122,990 (6.8% of total in the Netherlands). With a Gross Regional Domestic Product of ?30b it is responsible for 6.0% of Dutch GDP.  Before the 1960s Limburg was the mining area of the Netherlands (coal mines). The closure of the mines led to mass unemployment (100,000 jobs lost in a short period) and started a process of economic restructuring focusing on industry and public services, which lasted for decades. Although this process of restructuring was rather successful, the present situation, where the population is growing older and many youngsters leaving the province for educational and economic reasons, is cause for concern.
The industry sector is with 20.3% of employment relatively large in Limburg (compared to Dutch average), as are agriculture (3.7%) and wholesale (25.7%). The public sector is also relatively large (32.5%, while national average is 29.1%) which is caused by the policy to compensate loss of employment in the mines by transferring public services to the region (e.g. the national office of statistics). The financial and other business services sector is small (12.4% compared to national 29.1%).
The South of Limburg, where the mines were, is rather urban, and has a focus on Life sciences around Maastricht (with a.o. Medtronic, Pie medical) and process industry around Geleen (DSM, Sabic, Nedcar). Limburg South is also a traditional tourist region.
In North Limburg there is a concentration of industries around Venlo (e.g. Oce (copiers) and Scheuten (solar cells)) where also a concentration of agricultural as well as transportation companies can be found.
Total labour force - 513,000
Unemployment rate 8.2%
GDP growth2009  -  -4.8%
Inflation rate 2009 1.2%