Netherlands

• temperate;
• marine;
• cool summers and mild winters

highest point:

Mount Scenery (on the island of Saba in the Caribbean, now considered an integral part of the Netherlands following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles) 862 m

lowest point:

Zuidplaspolder -7 m

mean elevation:

30 m

note: the highest point on continental Netherlands is Vaalserberg at 322 m

• an area known as the Randstad, anchored by the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, and Utrecht, is the most densely populated region;
• the north tends to be less dense, though sizeable communities can be found throughout the entire country

• located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine (Rijn), Meuse (Maas), and Scheldt (Schelde));
• about a quarter of the country lies below sea level and only about half of the land exceeds one meter above sea level

noun:

Dutchman(men), Dutchwoman(women)

adjective:

Dutch

total:

42.2 years (2024 est.)

male:

40.9 years

female:

43.5 years

• an area known as the Randstad, anchored by the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, and Utrecht, is the most densely populated region;
• the north tends to be less dense, though sizeable communities can be found throughout the entire country

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.02 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.87 male(s)/female

total population:

0.99 male(s)/female (2024 est.)

total:

3.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2024 est.)

male:

3.9 deaths/1,000 live births

female:

3.3 deaths/1,000 live births

total population:

81.9 years (2024 est.)

male:

80.3 years

female:

83.5 years

total:

8.23 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

beer:

3.95 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

wine:

2.92 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

spirits:

1.36 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

other alcohols:

0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

total:

22.2% (2020 est.)

male:

24.4% (2020 est.)

female:

19.9% (2020 est.)

total population:

NA

male:

NA

female:

NA

• water and air pollution are significant environmental problems;
• pollution of the country's rivers from industrial and agricultural chemicals, including heavy metals, organic compounds, nitrates, and phosphates;
• air pollution from vehicles and refining activities

• temperate;
• marine;
• cool summers and mild winters

urban population:

93.2% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization:

0.59% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

particulate matter emissions:

10.74 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions:

170.78 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions:

17.79 megatons (2020 est.)

municipal solid waste generated annually:

8.855 million tons (2015 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually:

2,179,216 tons (2015 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled:

24.6% (2015 est.)

municipal:

2.05 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial:

5.94 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural:

31 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

total global geoparks and regional networks:

2 (2024)

global geoparks and regional networks:

De Hondsrug; Schelde Delta (includes Belgium) (2024)

conventional long form:

Kingdom of the Netherlands

conventional short form:

Netherlands

local long form:

Koninkrijk der Nederlanden

local short form:

Nederland

abbreviation:

NL

etymology:

the country name literally means "the lowlands" and refers to the geographic features of the land being both flat and down river from higher areas (i.e., at the estuaries of the Scheldt, Meuse, and Rhine Rivers; only about half of the Netherlands is more than 1 meter above sea level)

• King's Day (birthday of King WILLEM-ALEXANDER), 27 April (1967);
• note - King's or Queen's Day is observed on the ruling monarch's birthday;
• currently celebrated on 26 April if 27 April is a Sunday

history:

many previous to adoption of the "Basic Law of the Kingdom of the Netherlands" on 24 August 1815; revised 8 times, the latest in 1983

amendments:

• proposed as an Act of Parliament by or on behalf of the king or by the Second Chamber of the States General;
• the Second Chamber is dissolved after its first reading of the Act;
• passage requires a second reading by both the First Chamber and the newly elected Second Chamber, followed by at least two-thirds majority vote of both chambers, and ratification by the king;
• amended many times, last in 2023

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of the Netherlands

dual citizenship recognized:

no

residency requirement for naturalization:

5 years

chief of state:

King WILLEM-ALEXANDER (since 30 April 2013)

head of government:

Prime Minister Dick SCHOOF (since 2 July 2024)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers appointed by the monarch

elections/appointments:

• the monarchy is hereditary;
• following Second Chamber elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the monarch;
• deputy prime ministers are appointed by the monarch

highest court(s):

• Supreme Court or Hoge Raad (consists of 41 judges: the president, 6 vice presidents, 31 justices or raadsheren, and 3 justices in exceptional service, referred to as buitengewone dienst);
• the court is divided into criminal, civil, tax, and ombuds chambers

judge selection and term of office:

• justices appointed by the monarch from a list provided by the House of Representatives of the States General;
• justices appointed for life or until mandatory retirement at age 70

subordinate courts:

• courts of appeal;
• district courts, each with up to 5 subdistrict courts;
• Netherlands Commercial Court

• Christian Democratic Appeal or CDA
• Christian Union or CU
• Correct Answer 2021 or JA21
• Democrats 66 or D66
• Denk
• Farmer-Citizen Movement or BBB
• 50Plus
• Forum for Democracy or FvD
• Green Left (GroenLinks) or GL
• Labor Party or PvdA
• New Social Contract or NSC
• Party for Freedom or PVV
• Party for the Animals or PvdD
• People's Party for Freedom and Democracy or VVD
• Reformed Political Party or SGP
• Socialist Party or SP
• Together or BIJ1
• Volt Netherlands or Volt

chief of mission:

Ambassador Birgitta TAZELAAR (since 15 September 2023)

chancery:

4200 Linnean Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 244-5300

FAX:

[1] (202) 362-3430

email address and website:

[email protected]; https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/countries/united-states/about-us/embassy-in-washington-dc

consulate(s) general:

Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New York, San Francisco

chief of mission:

Ambassador Shefali RAZDAN DUGGAL (since 19 October 2022)

embassy:

John Adams Park 1, 2244 BZ Wassenaar

mailing address:

5780 Amsterdam Place, Washington DC 20521-5780

telephone:

[31] (70) 310-2209

FAX:

[31] (70) 310-2207

email address and website:

[email protected]; https://nl.usembassy.gov/

consulate(s) general:

Amsterdam

• three equal horizontal bands of red (bright vermilion; top), white, and blue (cobalt);
• similar to the flag of Luxembourg, which uses a lighter blue and is longer;
• the colors were derived from those of WILLIAM I, Prince of Orange, who led the Dutch Revolt against Spanish sovereignty in the latter half of the 16th century;
• originally the upper band was orange, but because its dye tended to turn red over time, the red shade was eventually made the permanent color;
• the banner is perhaps the oldest tricolor in continuous use

total World Heritage Sites:

13 (12 cultural, 1 natural); note - includes one site in Curacao

selected World Heritage Site locales:

• Schokland and Surroundings (c);
• Dutch Water Defense Lines (c);
• Van Nellefabriek (c);
• Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout (c);
• Droogmakerij de Beemster (Beemster Polder) (c);
• Rietveld Schröderhuis (Rietveld Schröder House) (c);
• Wadden Sea (n);
• Seventeenth Century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht (c);
• Colonies of Benevolence (c);
• Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower German Limes (c)

• high-income, core EU- and eurozone-member economy;
• trade-oriented with strong services, logistics, and high tech sectors;
• exiting mild recession triggered by inflation and weak export demand;
• tight labor market;
• low deficits and manageable public debt;
• strong ratings for innovation, competitiveness, and business climate

Fitch rating:

AAA (1994)

Moody's rating:

Aaa (1986)

Standard & Poors rating: AAA (2015)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

agriculture:

1.5% (2023 est.)

industry:

19.4% (2023 est.)

services:

69.3% (2023 est.)

note: figures may not total 100% due to non-allocated consumption not captured in sector-reported data

total:

8.9% (2023 est.)

male:

9.4% (2023 est.)

female:

8.5% (2023 est.)

note: % of labor force ages 15-24 seeking employment

on food:

11.8% of household expenditures (2022 est.)

on alcohol and tobacco:

3% of household expenditures (2022 est.)

lowest 10%:

3.6% (2021 est.)

highest 10%:

21.4% (2021 est.)

note: % share of income accruing to lowest and highest 10% of population

Number of operational nuclear reactors:

1 (2023)

Net capacity of operational nuclear reactors:

0.48GW (2023 est.)

Percent of total electricity production:

3.4% (2023 est.)

Number of nuclear reactors permanently shut down:

1 (2023)

production:

1.825 million metric tons (2022 est.)

consumption:

10.61 million metric tons (2022 est.)

exports:

16.123 million metric tons (2022 est.)

imports:

24.908 million metric tons (2022 est.)

proven reserves:

3.247 billion metric tons (2022 est.)

total petroleum production:

70,000 bbl/day (2023 est.)

refined petroleum consumption:

872,000 bbl/day (2023 est.)

crude oil estimated reserves:

137.747 million barrels (2021 est.)

production:

17.774 billion cubic meters (2022 est.)

consumption:

33.243 billion cubic meters (2022 est.)

exports:

43.026 billion cubic meters (2022 est.)

imports:

65.807 billion cubic meters (2022 est.)

proven reserves:

132.608 billion cubic meters (2021 est.)

general assessment:

• telecom infrastructure in the Netherlands continues to be upgraded as modernization schemes undertaken by telcos make steady progress;
• other fiber providers have been supported by regulatory measures which have encouraged municipal governments to intervene with telcos’ fiber builds, facilitating open access networks in a bid to make rollouts cheaper, and completed sooner;
• while the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are also closing down their Global System for Mobile Communication (MSM) and 3G networks and repurposing their spectrum and physical assets for LTE and 5G, the regulator has also encouraged GSM/3G roaming in the interim, thus safeguarding services such as machine to machine and other low data-use applications while individual MNOs disable their own GSM/3G networks;
• the country has one of the highest fixed broadband penetration rates in the world, with effective cross-platform competition between Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Hybrid Fiber Coazial (HFC), and fiber networks;
• in the third quarter of 2020 the number of cable broadband connections fell for the first time, while the DSL segment has long been eclipsed by fiber;
• by the end of 2021, over a quarter of fixed broadband connections were on fiber infrastructure, while DSL accounted for only about 29%;
• almost 49% of fixed connections provided data above 100Mb/s, while an additional 43.7% provided data of at least 30Mb/s (2022)

domestic:

fixed-line is 29 per 100 and mobile-cellular at 125 per 100 persons (2021)

international:

• country code - 31;
• landing points for Farland North, TAT-14, Circe North, Concerto, Ulysses 2, AC-1, UK-Netherlands 14, and COBRAcable submarine cables which provide links to the US and Europe;
• satellite earth stations - 5 (3 Intelsat - 1 Indian Ocean and 2 Atlantic Ocean, 1 Eutelsat, and 1 Inmarsat) (2019)

• more than 90% of households are connected to cable or satellite TV systems that provide a wide range of domestic and foreign channels;
• public service broadcast system includes multiple broadcasters, 3 with a national reach and the remainder operating in regional and local markets;
• 2 major nationwide commercial television companies, each with 3 or more stations, and many commercial TV stations in regional and local markets;
• nearly 600 radio stations with a mix of public and private stations providing national or regional coverage

number of registered air carriers:

8 (2020); inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 238

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

43,996,044 (2018)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

5,886,510,000 (2018) mt-km