Netherlands

For other uses, see Netherlands (disambiguation).

{{Infobox Country

native_name = Koninkrijk der Nederlanden

conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands

common_name = the Netherlands

image_flag = Flag of the Netherlands.svg

image_coat = NL - COA.png

image_map = EU location NED.png

map_caption = Location of the  Netherlands  (burnt orange) – in on the European continent  (camel & white) – in the European Union  (camel)  —  [Legend]

national_motto = "Je maintiendrai"  (French) "Ik zal handhaven"  (Dutch) "I shall stand fast"1

national_anthem = "Het Wilhelmus"

official_languages = Dutch³

ethnic_groups = 80.9% Dutchmen   2.4% Germans   2.4% Indonesians   2.0% Surinamese 12.3% others

ethnic_groups_year =

demonym = Dutch

capital = Amsterdam²

largest_city = capital

latm=21 |latNS=N |longd=04 |longm=52 |longEW=E

government_type = Parliamentary democracy and Constitutional monarchy

leader_title1 = Monarch

leader_name1 = Beatrix van Oranje-Nassau (1938-)

leader_title2 = Prime Minister

leader_name2 = Jan Peter Balkenende

area_rank = 134th

area_magnitude = 1 E10

area_km2 = 41,526

area_sq_mi = 16,033

4,916 km²

2,419,042

Noord-Holland

Haarlem

2,671 km²

2,613,070

Overijssel

Zwolle

3,325 km²

1,116,374

Utrecht

Utrecht

1,385 km²

1,190,604

Zealand (Zeeland)

Middelburg

1,787 km²

380,497

South Holland (Zuid Holland)

The Hague (Den Haag)

2,814 km²

3,455,097

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Map of the Netherlands, linking to the province pages; the red dots mark the capitals of the provinces and the black dots other notable cities or towns

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Military

Main article: Military of the Netherlands

Conscription in the Netherlands was suspended in 1996. All military specialities, except the Submarine service and Marine Corps, are open to women. The Dutch Ministry of Defence employs 68,000 personnel, including both civilian and military personnel. The military is composed of four branches, all of which carry the prefix Koninklijke (Royal):

• Koninklijke Landmacht (KL), the Royal Netherlands Army
• Koninklijke Marine (KM), the Royal Netherlands Navy, including the Naval Air Service and Marine Corps
• Koninklijke Luchtmacht (KLu), the Royal Netherlands Air Force
• Koninklijke Marechaussee (KMar), the Royal Military Police, tasks include military police and border control

Economy

Main articles: Economy of the Netherlands and List of Dutch companies

Aalsmeer Flower Auction. The largest commercial building in the world, and a centre of international flower trade.

The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy in which the government has reduced its role since the 1980s. Industrial activity is predominantly in food-processing (for example Unilever and Heineken International), chemicals (for example DSM), petroleum refining (for example Royal Dutch Shell), and electrical machinery (for example Philips). Slochteren has one of the largest natural gas fields in the world, which has so far (2006) resulted in a total revenue of €159 billion since the mid 1970s. N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie still is the largest public-private partnership P3 world-wide following the global energy-transition of 1963 from coal to gas, coupling oil and gas prices. With just over half of the reserves used up and an expected continued rise in oil prices, the revenues over the next few decades are expected to be at least that much.

The Netherlands has the 16th largest economy in the world, and ranks 10th in GDP (nominal) per capita. Between 1998 and 2000 annual economic growth (GDP) averaged nearly 4%, well above the European average. Growth slowed considerably in 2001-05 due to the global economic slowdown, but the first quarter of 2006 showed promising growth of 2.6%. Inflation is 1.3% and is expected to stay low at around 1.5% in the coming years. Unemployment is at 5.5% of the labour force. By Eurostat standards however, unemployment in the Netherlands is at only 3.3% - the lowest rate of all European Union member states. The Netherlands also has a relatively low GINI coefficient of 0.326. Despite ranking only 10th in GDP per capita, UNICEF ranked the Netherlands 1st in child well-being, outranking other nations with higher GDP's, such as the United States and the United Kingdom.

Agriculture

Frisian Holstein cows originated in the Netherlands, where nowadays intensive dairy farming is the primary type of agriculture.

A highly mechanised agricultural sector employs no more than 4% of the labour force but provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry and for exports. The Dutch rank third worldwide in value of agricultural exports, behind the United States and France, with exports earning $55 billion annually. A significant portion of Dutch agricultural exports are derived from fresh-cut plants, flowers, and bulbs, with the Netherlands exporting two-thirds of the world's total. The Netherlands also exports a quarter of all world tomatoes, and one-third of the world's exports of peppers and cucumbers. The Netherlands' location gives it prime access to markets in the UK and Germany, with the port of Rotterdam being the largest port in Europe. Other important parts of the economy are international trade (Dutch colonialism started with cooperative private enterprises such as the VOC), banking and transport. The Netherlands successfully addressed the issue of public finances and stagnating job growth long before its European partners.

As a founding member of the Euro, the Netherlands replaced (for accounting purposes) its former currency, the Guilder, on January 1, 1999, along with the other adopters of the single European currency. Actual Euro coins and banknotes followed on January 1, 2002. In the first years of the third millennium, economic and employment growth came to a standstill, which the government tried to resolve by reducing expenses.

Demographics

Demographics of Netherlands, Data of FAO, year 2006.

Main article: Demographics of the Netherlands

The Netherlands is the 23rd most densely populated country in the world, with 395 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,023 sq mi)—or 484 people per square kilometre (1,254/sq mi) if only the land area is counted, since 18.4% is water. The fertility rate in the Netherlands is 1.7 children per woman, well below the 2.2 rate required for population replacement. It is also one of the most densely cabled countries in the world. Internet distribution is at 73.3% the 5th highest in the world.

The ethnic origins of the citizens of the Netherlands are diverse. A majority of the population, however, still remains indigenous Dutch (although the latter notion is also to be relativized strongly). They were: 80.8% Dutch, 2.4% German, 2.4% Indonesian (Indo-Dutch, Moluccan), 2.2% Turks, 2.0% Surinamese, 1.9% Moroccan, 1.5% Indian, 0.8% Antillean and Aruban, and 6.0% other. However, this does not include the whole Kingdom of the Netherlands (such as the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, which have a non-Dutch majority community), and only includes the population in the Netherlands itself. The Netherlands also has a resident population of some 800,000 people of Indo (mixed Dutch and Indonesian) descent.

The people of the Netherlands are amongst the tallest in the world, with an average height of about 1.81 metres for adult males and 1.68 m for adult females

Languages

The official language is Dutch, which is spoken by a majority of the inhabitants, the exception being some groups of immigrants.

Another official language is West Frisian, which is spoken in the northern province of Friesland, called Fryslân in that language. West Frisian is co-official only in the province of Friesland, although with a few restrictions. Several dialects of Low Saxon (Nedersaksisch in Dutch) are spoken in much of the north and east and are recognised by the Netherlands as regional languages according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, as well as the Meuse-Rhenish Franconian varieties in the southeastern province of Limburg, here called Limburgish language.

Dom Tower of Utrecht

Life in the Netherlands Cuisine Culture Customs Demographics Economy Education Holidays Languages Law Law enforcement Media Music Politics Religion Sport Taxation Transport Specific policies: Abortion Drug policy Euthanasia Pillarisation Prostitution Same-sex marriage

There is a tradition of learning foreign languages in the Netherlands: about 70% of the total population have good knowledge of English, 55– 59% of German and 19% of French.

Religion

Main article: Religion in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is one of the more secular countries in the world, with only 39% being religiously affiliated (31% for those aged under 35), although 62% are believers (but 40% of those not in the traditional sense). Fewer than 20% visit church regularly .

According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005, 34% of Dutch citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 37% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 27% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force".

In 1950, before the secularization of Europe, and the large settlement of non-Europeans in the Netherlands, most Dutch citizens identified themselves as Christians. In 1950, out of a total population of almost 13 million, a total of 7,261,000 belonged to Protestant denominations, 3,703,000 belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and 1,641,000 had no acknowledged religion.

However, Christian schools are still funded by the government and three political parties in the Dutch parliament (CDA, ChristianUnion and SGP) base their policy on the Christian belief system.

Culture

Main article: Culture of the Netherlands

Erasmus (1466–1536)

The Netherlands has had many well-known painters. The 17th century, when the Dutch republic was prosperous, was the age of the "Dutch Masters", such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruysdael and many others. Famous Dutch painters of the 19th and 20th century were Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondriaan. M.C. Escher is a well-known graphics artist. Willem de Kooning was born and trained in Rotterdam, although he is considered to have reached acclaim as an American artist. Han van Meegeren was an infamous Dutch art forger.

The Netherlands is the country of philosophers Erasmus of Rotterdam and Spinoza, and all of Descartes' major work was done there. The Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) discovered Saturn's moon Titan and invented the pendulum clock.

In the Dutch Golden Age, literature flourished as well, with Joost van den Vondel and P.C. Hooft as the two most famous writers. In the 19th century, Multatuli wrote about the bad treatment of the natives in Dutch colonies. Important 20th century authors include Harry Mulisch, Jan Wolkers, Simon Vestdijk, Cees Nooteboom, Gerard (van het) Reve and Willem Frederik Hermans. Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl was published after she died in The Holocaust and translated from Dutch to all major languages.

Replicas of Dutch buildings can be found in Huis ten Bosch, Nagasaki, Japan. A similar Holland Village is being built in Shenyang, China.

Windmills, tulips, wooden shoes, cheese and Delftware pottery are among the items associated with the Netherlands.

Dutch law takes very liberal stances on such controversial issues as abortion, drugs and euthanasia.

References

Footnotes

Statistics

• Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (2006). Health statistics. Retrieved June 17, 2006.
• "The Netherlands: Economic structure". The Economist. http://www.economist.com/countries/Netherlands/profile.cfm?folder=Profile%2DEconomic%20Structure. Retrieved 2007-06-20. 

Articles

• "Country profiles: The Netherlands". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1043423.stm. Retrieved 2007-06-20. 
• "Background Note: The Netherlands". United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3204.htm. Retrieved 2007-06-20. 
• "The Netherlands: Political forces". The Economist. http://www.economist.com/countries/Netherlands/profile.cfm?folder=Profile%2DPolitical%20Forces. Retrieved 2007-06-20. 
• "The Netherlands: History in brief". The Economist. http://www.economist.com/countries/Netherlands/profile.cfm?folder=History%20in%20brief. Retrieved 2007-06-20. 

Books

• Paul Arblaster. A History of the Low Countries. Palgrave Essential Histories Series New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 298 pp. ISBN 1-4039-4828-3.
• J. C. H. Blom and E. Lamberts, eds. History of the Low Countries (1998)
• Jonathan Israel. The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806 (1995)
• J. A. Kossmann-Putto and E. H. Kossmann. The Low Countries: History of the Northern and Southern Netherlands (1987)

External links

	Definitions from Wiktionary
	Textbooks from Wikibooks
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Images and media from Commons
	News stories from Wikinews
	Learning resources from Wikiversity

Wikimedia Atlas of Netherlands

• Overheid.nl - official Dutch government portal
• Government.nl - official Dutch government web site
• Provinces of Netherlands at Statoids
• CIA - The World Factbook -- Netherlands
• CBS - Key figures from the Dutch bureau of statistics
• Template:Wikitravel
• Holland.com - English website of the Netherlands tourist office
• Insquish.com - English info site on the Netherlands for travellers and expats

Template:1632 place referenced

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