Heerlen (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈɦeːrlə(n)]; Limburgish: Heële[ˈɦeə˦lə]) is a city and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the third largest settlement proper in the province of Limburg. Measured as a municipality, it is the fourth largest municipality in the province of Limburg.
Heerlen forms part of the city-region of Parkstad Limburg, an agglomeration with about 250,000 inhabitants and encompassing 8 municipalities. It is to the east of Maastricht and north of the German city of Aachen.
Limburg had a population of about 1,128,000 in January 2023. Its main municipalities are the provincial capital Maastricht (population 120,837 as of January 2022), Venlo (population 102,176) in the northeast, as well as Sittard-Geleen (population 91,760, bordering both Belgium and Germany) and Heerlen (population 86,874) in the south. More than half of the population, approximately 650,000 people, live in the south of Limburg, which corresponds to roughly one-third of the province's area proper. In South Limburg, most people live in the urban agglomerations of Maastricht, Parkstad and Sittard-Geleen.
Statistics Netherlands, founded in 1899, is a Dutch governmental institution that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands. In Dutch it is known as the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (Central Agency for Statistics), often abbreviated to CBS. It is located in The Hague and Heerlen. Since 3 January 2004, Statistics Netherlands has been an independent public body, or quango. Its independent legal status enables the reliable collection and dissemination of information to support public debate, policy development and decision-making.
CBS collects statistical information on themes such as:
Parkstad Limburg (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈpɑr(ə)kstɑtˈlɪmbʏr(ə)x]; Ripuarian and Limburgish: Parksjtad Limburg[ˈpɑʀəkʃtɑtˈlɪmbʏʀəx]) is a conurbation of seven municipalities in the southern part of the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. Consisting of Heerlen, Kerkrade, Landgraaf, Brunssum, Simpelveld, Voerendaal and Beekdaelen, the municipalities work together to improve public services, transport, and housing on a regional level. This collaboration started in 1999. Within Parkstad, the city of Heerlen functions as the centre of economic and social activity, and to a lesser extent the cities of Kerkrade and Landgraaf function in the same regard as regional hubs.