General Information
The Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe with some overseas territories in the Caribbean. In Europe, it consists of 12 provinces that border Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, with maritime borders in the North Sea with those countries and the United Kingdom. Together with the Caribbean Netherlands —Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba—it forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The official language is Dutch and a secondary official language in the province of Friesland is West Frisian. In the north and east of the country, Low Saxon is also spoken, and in the southeast, Limburgish. In the Caribbean Netherlands English and Papiamento are recognised languages. The total surface area of the country is 41,543.03km², of which 7872.050 km² are inland and tidal waters.
According to the data of Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the total population of the country in 2018 was 17,181,084 (Males: 8,527,041, Females: 8,654,043). For the females, life expectancy at birth is 83.7 years and for males it is 80.3 years.
A large proportion of the land that makes up the national territory of the Netherlands, is below sea level. The Netherlands has 498 inhabitants per km², making it the second most-densely populated European Union (EU) Member State. The largest city and capital of the country, is Amsterdam. In October 2010, the most recent change in the administrative structure of the country took place, with the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles. The three smallest islands of the Netherland Antilles (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba), became special municipalities in the Netherlands’ administrative structure. The two larger islands (Sint Maarten and Curacao) joined the Netherlands and Aruba, as constituent countries forming the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The Netherlands has played an important role in the politics and economics of Europe. From the very beginning, the country has been an enthusiastic supporter of the EU. In 1952, along with Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and West Germany, the Netherlands established the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). In 1957, these six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, the founding treaty of the European Economic Community (ECC), the predecessor of the EU. Since the establishment of the ECSC, Dutch officials have performed essential roles in the formation of key EU policies.
The country is a member of a number of international organisations, including the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations (UN), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Netherlands are also one of the founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). On the 4th of April 1949, along with 12 foreign ministers from other countries, Dr D.U. Stikker, foreign minister of the Netherlands, signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C., so establishing NATO.
The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices in 2018 was 774.039 (provisional) billion Euros, while in 2017 it was 738.146 billion Euros. The real GDP per Capita reached 41,600 Euros (provisional) in 2018, increased by 9.7% compare to 2017.
The Netherlands has a lucrative and open economy, depending heavily on global trade and exports. Consequently is highly vulnerable to the global economic conjuncture. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) of the Netherlands the total value of exports for the year 2018 was 495.985 billion Euros (467.434 billion Euros for 2017), while the value of imports for the same year was 441.564 billion Euros (408.885 billion Euros for 2017) and the balance of trade was 54.421 billion Euros.
The society of the Netherlands is developed, something demonstrated by the country’s high Human Development Index (HDI) score. The HDI measures human development and is published annually by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The factors considered by this index are: life expectancy, education (measured by adult literacy and gross enrolment in education) and standards of living (measured by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) income).
The levels of this index range from 0 to 1. In general, countries with an index below 0.5 are characterized as “under-developed”. Countries with an index between 0.5 and 0.8 are characterized as being of “medium development”, while countries with indexes of more than 0.8 are characterized as “highly developed”. In 2017, the HDI value of the Netherlands was 0.931, giving the country an overall ranking of 10 out of the 188 countries and territories considered. Since 1990, the HDI value of the Netherlands has increased significantly from 0.829 to 0.931