Number of fast-food restaurants in the Netherlands has risen enormously

For many people, making healthy choices when it comes to food is difficult. Almost half of Dutch adults are overweight, and 14% of them are severely overweight. The fact that more and more fast-food restaurants are opening only makes matters worse. The Netherlands now has more than six thousand additional fast-food restaurants compared with ten years ago. 

The number of places where you can get fast food has increased by more than half in ten years, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports. At the beginning of this year, the Netherlands had more than 19,000 places offering a quick snack; in 2014, there were approximately 12,600.

There are 37,800 places to eat in total, of which just over half are fast-food restaurants. This also includes cafeterias, ice-cream parlours, sandwich shops and food stalls. In 2014, there were actually more traditional restaurants, according to CBS. And it is precisely those, such as Chinese-Indonesian restaurants, that we are seeing disappear. What a shame!

Snacks for tourists

Most fast-food restaurants can be found in the Randstad. There are 1,560 in Amsterdam, 920 in Rotterdam, 785 in The Hague and 450 in Utrecht. Municipalities with many tourists also have relatively many, CBS reports. The Wadden Islands have the most establishments relative to the number of inhabitants. There are also relatively many in Zeeland’s coastal municipalities and in Zandvoort. On average, there are slightly more than one fast-food restaurant per thousand inhabitants in the Netherlands.

Staphorst has the fewest

Fewer fast-food restaurants can be found in the east and northeast of the country. The ratio is lowest in Staphorst in Overijssel, with one establishment per three thousand inhabitants.

Read also:

• Brilliant: this McDonald’s bag is also a table
• No more McDonald’s fries for the French, but… vegetable fries
• Surprise: Ramadan is very healthy

Source: ANP/Adformatie