Most of the sports are in Amersfoort, and the least in inner Heerlen

The Municipal Sports Index has been entered into the new Atlas. This was developed in cooperation with the Academy of Sport and Exercise at the University of Applied Sciences in Arnhem and Nijmegen and shows the sports and participation offer for each municipality. A distinction has been made between club sports and individual sports.

South Holland

Measured full participation in sports, Amersfoort is the sports city in the Netherlands. The least sporting population of Heerlin. Remarkably, according to Atlas, there is relatively little sport in many cities in the south of the Netherlands.

Sports participation is, according to the Atlas researchers, less related to providing sport than previously expected. There are lots of cities with little shows and high sporting participation. Conversely, there are also cities that have ample opportunities for exercise but are nonetheless low participation.

Healthcare costs

According to the researchers, there is a strong relationship between participation in sports on the one hand, and the perceived health of the population and healthcare costs on the other. Municipalities with a relatively large number of athletes have a relatively large proportion of the population who is otherwise healthy. The average healthcare costs in these municipalities are also lower.