Window on the Netherlands: The effect of primary school absence and closure on inward and outward flows of families

Due to ageing and depopulation, the continued existence of many primary schools in villages in rural North-Netherlands is threatened. It is believed that villages without a primary school will no longer be attractive to families with children, which could strengthen the process of population decline. This research examines to what extent the absence and closure of a primary school in a village influence the inward and outward flows of families with children in rural villages. We used population register data to acquire the flows at village level for the period 1996 to 2011. Data on primary schools were provided by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Linear regression analyses of relative inward and outward flows show that villages without a primary school, and villages that have experienced the closure of a primary school, have similar influx, but larger outward flows of families with children compared with villages with a primary school