Introduction

 

Background: The Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed in 1815. In 1830 Belgium seceded and formed a separate kingdom. The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I, but suffered invasion and occupation by Germany in World War II. A modern, industrialized nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products. The country was a founding member of NATO and the EEC (now the EU), and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999.

 

Geography

 

Location: Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between Belgium and Germany

 

Geographic coordinates: 52 30 N, 5 45 E

 

Map references: Europe

 

Area: total: 41,526 sq km; land: 33,883 sq km; water: 7,643 sq km

 

Area - comparative: slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey

 

Land boundaries: total: 1,027 km; border countries: Belgium 450 km, Germany 577 km

 

Coastline: 451 km

 

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm; exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm

 

Climate: temperate; marine; cool summers and mild winters

 

Terrain: mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (polders); some hills in southeast

 

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Zuidplaspolder -7 m; highest point: Vaalserberg 322 m

 

Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, peat, limestone, salt, sand and gravel, arable land

 

Land use: arable land: 26.71%; permanent crops: 0.97%; other: 72.32% (2001)

 

Irrigated land: 5,650 sq km (1998 est.)

 

Natural hazards: flooding

 

Environment - current issues: water pollution in the form of heavy metals, organic

compounds, and nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates; air pollution from vehicles and refining activities; acid rain

 

Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Kyoto Protocol, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling

 

Geography - note: located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine, Maas or Meuse, and Schelde)

 

People

 

Population: 16,407,491 (July 2005 est.)

 

Age structure: 0-14 years: 18.1% (male 1,523,316/female 1,453,232); 15-64 years: 67.8% (male 5,627,007/female 5,491,802); 65 years and over: 14.1% (male 974,037/female 1,338,097) (2005 est.)

 

Median age: total: 39.04 years; male: 38.22 years; female: 39.9 years (2005 est.)

 

Population growth rate: 0.53% (2005 est.)

 

Birth rate: 11.14 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Death rate: 8.68 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Net migration rate: 2.8 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female; under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female; 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female; 65 years and over: 0.73 male(s)/female; total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

 

Infant mortality rate: total: 5.04 deaths/1,000 live births; male: 5.62 deaths/1,000 live births; female: 4.44 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

 

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 78.81 years; male: 76.25 years; female: 81.51 years (2005 est.)

 

Total fertility rate: 1.66 children born/woman (2005 est.)

 

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.2% (2001 est.)

 

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 19,000 (2001 est.)

 

HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 100 (2003 est.)

 

Nationality: noun: Dutchman(men), Dutchwoman(women); adjective: Dutch

 

Ethnic groups: Dutch 83%, other 17% (of which 9% are non-Western origin mainly Turks, Moroccans, Antilleans, Surinamese, and Indonesians) (1999 est.)

 

Religions: Roman Catholic 31%, Dutch Reformed 13%, Calvinist 7%, Muslim 5.5%, other 2.5%, none 41% (2002)

 

Languages: Dutch (official), Frisian (official)

 

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write; total population: 99% (2000 est.); male: NA%; female: NA%

 

Government

 

Country name: conventional long form: Kingdom of the Netherlands; conventional short form: Netherlands; local long form: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; local short form: Nederland

 

Government type: constitutional monarchy

 

Capital: Amsterdam; The Hague is the seat of government

 

Administrative divisions: 12 provinces (provincies, singular - provincie); Drenthe, Flevoland, Friesland (Fryslan), Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, Noord-Brabant, Noord-Holland, Overijssel, Utrecht, Zeeland, Zuid-Holland

 

Dependent areas: Aruba, Netherlands Antilles

 

Independence: 23 January 1579 (the northern provinces of the Low Countries conclude the Union of Utrecht breaking with Spain; it was not until 1648 that Spain recognized their independence)

 

National holiday: Queen's Day (Birthday of Queen-Mother JULIANA in 1909 and accession to the throne of her oldest daughter BEATRIX in 1980), 30 April

 

Constitution: adopted 1815; amended many times, last time 2002

 

Legal system: civil law system incorporating French penal theory; constitution does not permit judicial review of acts of the States General; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

 

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

 

Executive branch: chief of state: Queen BEATRIX (since 30 April 1980); Heir Apparent WILLEM-ALEXANDER (born 27 April 1967), son of the monarch

head of government: Prime Minister Jan Peter BALKENENDE (since 22 July 2002) and Deputy Prime Ministers Gerrit ZALM (since 27 May 2003) and Laurens Jan BRINKHORST (since 31 March 2005)

cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the monarch

elections: none; the monarchy is hereditary; following Second Chamber elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the monarch; vice prime ministers appointed by the monarch

note: there is also a Council of State composed of the monarch, heir apparent, and councilors that provides consultations to the cabinet on legislative and administrative policy

 

Legislative branch: bicameral States General or Staten Generaal consists of the First Chamber or Eerste Kamer (75 seats; members indirectly elected by the country's 12 provincial councils for four-year terms) and the Second Chamber or Tweede Kamer (150 seats; members directly elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)

elections: First Chamber - last held 25 May 2003 (next to be held May 2007); Second Chamber - last held 22 January 2003 (next to be held May 2007)

election results: First Chamber - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - CDA 23, PvdA 19, VVD 15, Green Party 5, Socialist Party 4, D66 3, other 6; Second Chamber - percent of vote by party - CDA 28.6%, PvdA 27.3%, VVD 12.9%, Socialist Party 6.3%, List Pim Fortuyn 5.7%, Green Party 5.1%, D66 4.1%; seats by party - CDA 44, PvdA 42, VVD 28, Socialist Party 9, List Pim Fortuyn 8, Green Party 8, D66 6, other 5

 

Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Hoge Raad (justices are nominated for life by the monarch)

 

Economy

 

Economy - overview: The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy, which depends heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable industrial relations, moderate unemployment and inflation, a sizable current account surplus, and an important role as a European transportation hub. Industrial activity is predominantly in food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, and electrical machinery. A highly mechanized agricultural sector employs no more than 4% of the labor force but provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry and for exports. The Netherlands, along with 11 of its EU partners, began circulating the euro currency on 1 January 2002. The country continues to be one of the leading European nations for attracting foreign direct investment. Economic growth slowed considerably in 2001-04, as part of the global economic slowdown, but for the four years before that, annual growth averaged nearly 4%, well above the EU average.

 

GDP: purchasing power parity - $481.1 billion (2004 est.)

 

GDP - real growth rate: 1.2% (2004 est.)

 

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $29,500 (2004 est.)

 

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 2.4%; industry: 24.5%; services: 73.1% (2004 est.)

 

Labor force: 7.53 million (2004 est.)

 

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 4%, industry 23%, services 73% (1998 est.)

 

Unemployment rate: 6% (2004 est.)

 

Population below poverty line: NA

 

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.8%; highest 10%: 25.1% (1994)

 

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 32.6 (1994)

 

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.4% (2004 est.)

 

Investment (gross fixed): 19.9% of GDP (2004 est.)

 

Budget: revenues: $256.9 billion; expenditures: $274.4 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)

 

Public debt: 55.8% of GDP (2004 est.)

 

Agriculture - products: grains, potatoes, sugar beets, fruits, vegetables; livestock

 

Industries: agroindustries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing

 

Industrial production growth rate: 0.8% (2004 est.)

 

Electricity - production: 90.61 billion kWh (2002)

 

Electricity - consumption: 100.7 billion kWh (2002)

 

Electricity - exports: 4.5 billion kWh (2002)

 

Electricity - imports: 20.9 billion kWh (2002)

 

Oil - production: 46,200 bbl/day (2001 est.)

 

Oil - consumption: 895,300 bbl/day (2001 est.)

 

Oil - exports: 1.418 million bbl/day (2001)

 

Oil - imports: 2.284 million bbl/day (2001)

 

Oil - proved reserves: 88.06 million bbl (1 January 2002)

 

Natural gas - production: 77.75 billion cu m (2001 est.)

 

Natural gas - consumption: 49.72 billion cu m (2001 est.)

 

Natural gas - exports: 49.28 billion cu m (2001 est.)

 

Natural gas - imports: 20.78 billion cu m (2001 est.)

 

Natural gas - proved reserves: 1.693 trillion cu m (1 January 2002)

 

Current account balance: $19.9 billion (2004 est.)

 

Exports: $293.1 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

 

Exports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels; foodstuffs

 

Exports - partners: Germany 25%, Belgium 12.6%, UK 10.1%, France 9.8%, Italy 6%, US 4.2% (2004)

 

Imports: $252.7 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

 

Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, fuels; foodstuffs, clothing

 

Imports - partners: Germany 17.7%, Belgium 10.2%, US 7.8%, China 7.1%, UK 6.6%,

France 4.9% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $21.44 billion (2003)

 

Economic aid - donor: ODA, $4 billion (2003 est.)

 

Currency (code): euro (EUR)

note: on 1 January 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by financial institutions of member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions within the member countries

 

Exchange rates: euros per US dollar - 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175 (2001), 1.0854 (2000)

 

Fiscal year: calendar year

 

Communications

 

Telephones - main lines in use: 10.004 million (2002)

 

Telephones - mobile cellular: 12.5 million (2003)

 

Telephone system: general assessment: highly developed and well maintained; domestic: extensive fixed-line fiber-optic network; cellular telephone system is one of the largest in Europe with five major network operators utilizing the third generation of the Global System for Mobile Communications