Meerhout is a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 located in the Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 province of Antwerp

Antwerp (province)

Antwerp is the northernmost province both of the Flemish Region, also called Flanders, and of Belgium. It borders on the Netherlands and the Belgian provinces of Limburg, Flemish Brabant and East Flanders. Its capital is Antwerp which comprises the Port of Antwerp...

. The municipality only comprises the town of Meerhout proper. As of January 1, 2008 Meerhout had a total population of 9,578. The total area is 36.29 km² which gives a population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 of 264 inhabitants per km². In Meerhout some famous people have lived, like Kate Ryan

Kate Ryan

Kate Ryan is a Belgian World Music Award winner. She began her singing career in 2001 and later found fame with a string of dance hits. These included covers, mostly of Mylène Farmer and France Gall, such as "Désenchantée", "Libertine" and "Ella, elle l'a" as well as new material...

 (well known in France and Belgium, The UK, Turkey, Spain and the rest of western Europe).

Population

As of 1 January 2008, there are 9578 people living in Meerhout. 50.4% of them are men, 49.6% are women. Most people are older than 40.

Education

There are only 5 schools in Meerhout, these schools are both Pre- and Primary schools for children between the age of 3 and 12 years old.

There are secondary schools in the neighbourhood which are easily reachable by public transport or car/bicycle, in Geel

Geel

Geel is a city located in the Belgian province of Antwerp which acquired the status of a city in the 1980s.It comprises Central-Geel which is constituted of 4 old parishes a/o towns : Sint-Amand, Sint-Dimpna, Holven and Elsum...

, Mol

Mol

-Places:* City Municipality of Ljubljana, known after the acronym MOL in Slovene language * Märkisch-Oderland, a rural district of Brandenburg, Germany* Mol, Belgium, a municipality in Belgium* Mol, Serbia, a town in Serbia...

, Diest

Diest

Diest is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. Situated in the northeast of the Hageland region, Diest neighbours the provinces of Antwerp to its North, and Limburg to the East and is situated around 60km from Brussels. The municipality comprises the city of...

 and Tessenderlo

Tessenderlo

Tessenderlo is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. It is where the three Belgian provinces of Limburg, Flemish Brabant and Antwerp meet at the front gate of the Averbode Abbey. The municipality Tessenderlo encompasses the villages of Tessenderlo proper, Schoot, Engsbergen,...

.

Tourism

There is quite a lot of tourism in Meerhout. There are many beautiful routes, like the "drieprovincieënroute" (three provinces route), which is a cycling route going through the provinces of Antwerp, Vlaams Brabant and Limburg. There are also some B&Bs available, and most shopkeepers understand English. Meerhout is very popular among people from The Netherlands, Germany and Ireland. A lot of (older) English people visit Meerhout too because of "The Wing" and other memorial icons of WW2.

Evolution of the population

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19th century

Year	1806	1816	1830	1846	1856	1866	1876	1880	1890
Population	2534	2845	3237	3633	3659	3664	3871	4043	4363
Note: results as of 31/12

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20th century until reform

Year	1900	1910	1920	1930	1947	1961	1970	1976
Population	4531	5362	5871	6197	7189	7945	8567	8521
Note: results as of 31/12

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After reform

Year	1977	1980	1985	1990	1995	2000	2005	2006	2007	2008
Population	8521	8644	8790	9070	9190	9192	9317	9361	9463	9578
Note: results as of 01/01 - Source: National Institute of Statistics Belgium (NIS)

Notable inhabitants

• Kate Ryan
  Kate Ryan
  Kate Ryan is a Belgian World Music Award winner. She began her singing career in 2001 and later found fame with a string of dance hits. These included covers, mostly of Mylène Farmer and France Gall, such as "Désenchantée", "Libertine" and "Ella, elle l'a" as well as new material...
  
   (Female artist, won several awards, also well-known in France, and getting more famous in other countries all over Europe)
• Zjef Van Uytsel (Dutch singer, famous in the late 80's with his typical, Dutch music)

Trivia

• Kate Ryan lived in Meerhout
• Meerhout is a part of the Economic Network of the Albertkanaal (Albert Channel, named after King Albert 1)
• Zjef Van Uytsel had a famous quote: "Meerhout is een dorp als (g)een ander", which means "Meerhout is a village like (no) others.
• Meerhout has won the price of having the most beautiful center of the province of Antwerp. Listeners of the national radio station Radio 2 could vote.
• Meerhout had its own radio station, "MeerGoud" (MeerHout=>Meergoud, Goud means "Gold"), but they stopped broadcasting in 2006.