Toilet-friendly municipality of South Holland is Rotterdam

9 June 2022

Friday 19 November 2021 was World Toilet Day. On this day, attention is paid to the importance of good sanitation and access to clean and safe toilets for all.

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There is work to be done in the Netherlands, because recent research has shown that one in five people regularly stays at home because of a lack of toilets. We can therefore say that there is a social problem. In order to draw attention to this problem, we annually announce the well-known ranking of "the most toilet-friendly municipality in the Netherlands" on World Toilet Day. But it is not only on World Toilet Day that attention should be paid to (the solution of) this social problem. As far as we are concerned, it should always be on the agenda. That is why we zoom in on one of our 12 provinces every month, giving insight into how the municipalities within that province are doing.

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We do not go through the provinces alphabetically, but on the basis of the ranking list

December: Province of Groningen

January: Province of Flevoland

February: Province of Zeeland

March: Province of North Brabant

April: Province of Limburg

May: Province of Drenthe

And this month it is the province of South Holland that we take a closer look at.

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The number of inhabitants per toilet  

The toilet-friendly municipality of the province of South Holland is the municipality of Rotterdam. With a total of 730 points, they managed to secure first place.

In order to paint a clear picture of the need for more toilets in the municipalities of the province of South Holland, we have broken down the number of inhabitants per toilet in each municipality. We would like to emphasise that visitors and tourists to the municipality are not included in this calculation.

For example, even in the best-scoring municipality in this province (Rotterdam municipality), a total of 1,810 residents have to share one public/open toilet, with a total of 360 toilets. In the lowest scoring municipality (Krimpen aan den IJssel) there are only 4 toilets for the inhabitants to share, so if you compare this to the rest of the province it is not so bad. Those who live in the municipality of Krimpen aan den IJssel share one toilet with 7,353. That is a huge difference!

The number of people who have to share a toilet is one of the 6 indicators on which the national ranking is based. Every month we communicate the number of inhabitants per toilet of all municipalities within the province that is in the spotlight at that moment via our newsletter. Do you also want to be the first to receive this data in your mailbox every month? Then subscribe to the newsletter at the end of this article!

The ranking of the province of South Holland

We have listed the full rankings of the municipalities within the province of Zuid-Holland for you below. You can read the list as follows:

Position within province and name of municipality / number of inhabitants per toilet / (position on the Dutch ranking list)

1. Rotterdam 1,810 (6)
2. Gorinchem 1,627(14)
3. Leiden 1,700 (21)
4. Goeree-Overflakkee 1.686 (26)
5. Noordwijk 1.916 (29)
6. Westland 1,826 (37)
7. Rijswijk 1,227 (40)
8. Dordrecht 2,166(44)
9. Alphen aan den Rijn 2.085 (53)
10 . Hardinxveld-Giessendam 1,674 (54)

11. Zuidplas 2,253 (58)
12. Zwijndrecht 2,239 (66)
13. Westvoorne 1,655 (82)
14. Brielle 2,180 (87)
15 . The Hague 2,426 (94)
16. Leidschendam-Voorburg 2,184 (95)
17. Maassluis 2,797 (99)
18. Bodegraven-Reeuwijk 2,075 (104)
19. Leiderdorp 2,106 (105)
20.Voorschoten 2,138 (118)

21. Barendrecht 2,432 (130)
22. Pijnacker-Nootdorp 3,275 (132)
23. Sliedrecht 2,844 (150)
24. Zoetermeer 2,610 (153)
25. Gouda 2,834 (155)
26. Delft 2.959 (160)
27. Katwijk 2.869 (164)
28. Nieuwkoop 2.429 (167)
29. Alblasserdam 3,356 (171)
30. Lansingerland 2,880 (178)

31. Hellevoetsluis 2,879 (179)
32. Lisse 2,298 (184)
33. Ridderkerk 2,593 (198)
34. Wassenaar 2,994 (209)
35. Waddinxveen 3,387 (211)
36. Schiedam 3,171 (214)
37. Midden-Delfland 2.773 (217)
38. Oegstgeest 2.785 (221)
39. Zoeterwoude 2.211 (224)
40. Albrandswaard 2,581 (242)

41. Hillegom 2,775 (244)
42. Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht 3,473 (260)
43. Papendrecht 3,217 (269)
44. Hoeksche Waard 2.935 (276)
45. Molenlanden 4.413 (279)
46. Krimpenerwaard 4,356 (280)
47. Vlaardingen 4,348 (287)
48. Capelle aan den IJssel 3,740 (288)
49. Nissewaard 4,497 (298)
50. Teylingen 3,436 (311)

51. Kaag en Braassem 4,590 (327)
52. Krimpen aan den IJssel 7,353 (330)

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Room for improvement

Nationally, the municipality of Rotterdam with 731 points is in a good 6th position of the total of 352 municipalities in the Netherlands. Compared to last year, Rotterdam has dropped 9 points. In 2020 Rotterdam had a total of 740 points. With a few simple steps, it is possible for every municipality to end up even higher in the national ranking in the coming year. There are more than enough feasible opportunities for all municipalities to become more toilet friendly and therefore not only more inclusive, but also more hospitable.

These include:
1. Making the toilets of municipal locations public for passers-by.
2. Placing public (seasonal) toilets at busy locations.
3. Asking local businesses if their toilets can be made available to passers-by.
4. Making the toilets clearly findable by becoming a partner of HogeNood and registering new toilets and keeping track of existing toilets in the HogeNood CMS, placing signs on location that lead to the toilet and placing stickers at toilet locations themselves to give them extra attention.
5. Keeping a sustainable toilet policy, so that not only now but also in the future, sufficient hygienic toilets will be guaranteed within the municipality.

Do you want to become a toilet-friendly municipality? Then get in touch.

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The complete ranking of toilet-friendly municipalities of the Netherlands 2021

For those who want to find out where the other municipalities ended up. See here the complete ranking of all 352 of World Toilet Day 2021. Here you can read how the list was made and how many points each municipality managed to get in 2021. There is also a map showing the proximity of all the toilets registered in the HogeNood app.

Monthly updates on each province via the newsletter

From now on, we will be publishing a monthly article focusing on one of our 12 provinces. Do you want to be the first to know about the most toilet-friendly municipality of each province? Then subscribe to the newsletter at the bottom of this article. That way you can be sure
that you will receive the newest list in your inbox as soon as it is put online!

Note: The dates used in this article are a snapshot of World Toilet Day 2021, it is possible that changes have occurred in the meantime.