All provinces of the Netherlands are divided into municipalities (gemeenten), together 441 (2009).
Recent politics have led to a great number of mergers between smaller municipalities or with cities, a process which will continue in the future (with a few mergers set to occur on 2009-01-01 and 2010-01-01). On 15 December 2008 Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius will become part of the Netherlands per se with a status equivalent to that of municipalities.
