"text":"<p>The Dutch United Provinces declared their independence from Spain in 1579; during the 17th century, they became a leading seafaring and commercial power, with settlements and colonies around the world. After a 20-year French occupation, a 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 German invasion and occupation 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. In October 2010, the former Netherlands Antilles was dissolved and the three smallest islands - Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba - became special municipalities in the Netherlands administrative structure. The larger islands of Sint Maarten and Curacao joined the Netherlands and Aruba as constituent countries forming the Kingdom of the Netherlands.</p> <p>In February 2018, the Sint Eustatius island council (governing body) was dissolved and replaced by a government commissioner to restore the integrity of public administration. According to the Dutch Government, the intervention will be as \"short as possible and as long as needed.\"</p>"
"text":"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"
"text":"Rhine river mouth (shared with Switzerland [s], Germany, and France) - 1,233 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"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"
"text":"<p>flooding</p><p><strong>volcanism:</strong> Mount Scenery (887 m), located on the island of Saba in the Caribbean, last erupted in 1640;; Round Hill (601 m), a dormant volcano also known as The Quill, is located on the island of St. Eustatius in the Caribbean;; these islands are at the northern end of the volcanic island arc of the Lesser Antilles that extends south to Grenada</p>"
"text":"located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine, Maas or Meuse, and Schelde); about a quarter of the country lies below sea level and only about half of the land exceeds one meter above sea level"
"text":"Dutch (official); note - Frisian is an official language in Fryslan province; Frisian, Low Saxon, Limburgish, Romani, and Yiddish have protected status under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages; Dutch is the official language of the three special municipalities of the Caribbean Netherlands; English is a recognized regional language on Sint Eustatius and Saba; Papiamento is a recognized regional language on Bonaire"
"text":"<br>Het Wereld Feitenboek, een onmisbare bron van informatie. (Dutch)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
"text":"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"
"text":"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"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"none of the selected agreements"
}
},
"Air pollutants":{
"particulate matter emissions":{
"text":"12.07 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)"
},
"carbon dioxide emissions":{
"text":"170.78 megatons (2016 est.)"
},
"methane emissions":{
"text":"17.79 megatons (2020 est.)"
}
},
"Climate":{
"text":"temperate; marine; cool summers and mild winters"
"text":"Rhine river mouth (shared with Switzerland [s], Germany, and France) - 1,233 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"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)"
}
},
"Government type":{
"text":"parliamentary constitutional monarchy; part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands"
},
"Capital":{
"name":{
"text":"Amsterdam; note - The Hague is the seat of government"
},
"geographic coordinates":{
"text":"52 21 N, 4 55 E"
},
"time difference":{
"text":"UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)"
},
"daylight saving time":{
"text":"+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October"
"text":"time descriptions apply to the continental Netherlands only, for the constituent countries in the Caribbean, the time difference is UTC-4"
},
"etymology":{
"text":"the original Dutch name, Amstellerdam, meaning \"a dam on the Amstel River,\" dates to the 13th century; over time the name simplified to Amsterdam"
"note":"<strong>note 1:</strong> the Netherlands is one of four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; the other three, Aruba, Curacao, and Sint Maarten, are all islands in the Caribbean; while all four parts are considered equal partners, in practice, most of the Kingdom's affairs are administered by the Netherlands, which makes up about 98% of the Kingdom's total land area and population <br><br><strong>note 2:</strong> although Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius are officially incorporated into the country of the Netherlands under the broad designation of \"public entities,\" Dutch Government sources regularly apply to them the more descriptive term of \"special municipalities\"; Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius are collectively referred to as the Caribbean Netherlands"
"text":"23 January 1579 (the northern provinces of the Low Countries conclude the Union of Utrecht breaking with Spain; on 26 July 1581, they formally declared their independence with an Act of Abjuration; however, it was not until 30 January 1648 and the Peace of Westphalia that Spain recognized this independence)"
},
"National holiday":{
"text":"King's Day (birthday of King WILLEM-ALEXANDER), 27 April (1967); note - King's or Queen's Day are observed on the ruling monarch's birthday; currently celebrated on 26 April if 27 April is a Sunday"
"text":"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 2018"
"text":"King WILLEM-ALEXANDER (since 30 April 2013); Heir Apparent Princess CATHARINA-AMALIA (daughter of King WILLEM-ALEXANDER, born 7 December 2003)"
"text":"Prime Minister Mark RUTTE (since 14 October 2010); Deputy Prime Ministers Sigrid KAAG and Wopke HOEKSTRA (since 10 January 2022) and Carola SCHOUTEN (since 26 October 2017); note - Mark RUTTE heads his fourth cabinet"
"text":"Council of Ministers appointed by the monarch"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"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"
"text":"bicameral States General or Staten Generaal consists of:<br>Senate or Eerste Kamer (75 seats; members indirectly elected by the country's 12 provincial council members by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms)<br>House of Representatives or Tweede Kamer (150 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by open-list proportional representation vote to serve up to 4-year terms)"
"text":"<br>First Chamber - last held on 27 May 2019 (next to be held in May 2023)<br>Second Chamber - last held on 15-17 March 2021 (next to be held on 31 March 2025)"
"text":"<br>First Chamber - percent of vote by party - VVD 16%, CDA 12%, GL 10.7%, D66 9.3%, PvdA 8%, PVV 6.7%, SP 5.3%, CU 5.3%, PvdD 4%, SGP 2.7%, 50Plus 2.7%, FvD 1.3%, other 16%; seats by party - VVD 12, CDA 9, GL 8, D66 7, PvdA 6, PVV 5, SP 4, CU 4, PvdD 3, SGP 2, 50Plus 2, FvD 1, other 12; composition (as of September 2021) - men 52, women 23, percent of women 30.7%<br>Second Chamber - percent of vote by party - VVD 21.9%, D66 15%, PVV 10.8%, CDA 9.5%, SP 9.1%, PvdA 5.7%, GL 5.2%, FvD 5%, PvdD 3.8%, CU 3.4%, other 13.7%; seats by party - VVD 34, D66 24, PVV 17, CDA 15, GL 8, FvD 8, PvdD 6, PvdA 9, SP 9, CU 5, Denk 3, SGP 3, 50 Plus 1, other 6; composition (as of September 2021) - men 89, women 61, percent of women 40.7%; note - total States General percent of women 37.3%"
"text":"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":{
"text":"justices appointed by the monarch from a list provided by the Second Chamber of the States General; justices appointed for life or until mandatory retirement at age 70"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"courts of appeal; district courts, each with up to 5 subdistrict courts; Netherlands Commercial Court"
"text":"Christian Democratic Appeal or CDA [Wopke HOEKSTRA]<br>Christian Union or CU [Gert-Jan SEGERS]<br>Democrats 66 or D66 [Sigrid KAAG]<br>Denk [Farid AZARKAN]<br>50Plus [Martin van ROOIJEN]<br>Forum for Democracy or FvD [Thierry BAUDET]<br>Green Left (GroenLinks) or GL [Jesse KLAVER]<br>Labor Party or PvdA (vacant)<br>Party for Freedom or PVV [Geert WILDERS]<br>Party for the Animals or PvdD [Esther OUWENHAND]<br>People's Party for Freedom and Democracy or VVD [Mark RUTTE]<br>Reformed Political Party or SGP [Kees VAN DER STAAIJ]<br>Socialist Party or SP [Lilian MARIJNISSEN]"
"text":"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"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"lion, tulip; national color: orange"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"Het Wilhelmus\" (The William)"
},
"lyrics/music":{
"text":"Philips VAN MARNIX van Sint Aldegonde (presumed)/unknown"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> adopted 1932, in use since the 17th century, making it the oldest national anthem in the world; also known as \"Wilhelmus van Nassouwe\" (William of Nassau), it is in the form of an acrostic, where the first letter of each stanza spells the name of the leader of the Dutch Revolt"
"text":"12 (11 cultural, 1 natural); note - includes one site in Curacao"
},
"selected World Heritage Site locales":{
"text":"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)"
"text":"<p>The Netherlands, the sixth-largest economy in the European Union, plays an important role as a European transportation hub, with a consistently high trade surplus, stable industrial relations, and low unemployment. Industry focuses on food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, and electrical machinery. A highly mechanized agricultural sector employs only 2% of the labor force but provides large surpluses for food-processing and underpins the country’s status as the world’s second largest agricultural exporter.</p> <p></p> <p>The Netherlands is part of the euro zone, and as such, its monetary policy is controlled by the European Central Bank. The Dutch financial sector is highly concentrated, with four commercial banks possessing over 80% of banking assets, and is four times the size of Dutch GDP.</p> <p></p> <p>In 2008, during the financial crisis, the government budget deficit hit 5.3% of GDP. Following a protracted recession from 2009 to 2013, during which unemployment doubled to 7.4% and household consumption contracted for four consecutive years, economic growth began inching forward in 2014. Since 2010, Prime Minister Mark RUTTE’s government has implemented significant austerity measures to improve public finances and has instituted broad structural reforms in key policy areas, including the labor market, the housing sector, the energy market, and the pension system. In 2017, the government budget returned to a surplus of 0.7% of GDP, with economic growth of 3.2%, and GDP per capita finally surpassed pre-crisis levels. The fiscal policy announced by the new government in the 2018-2021 coalition plans for increases in government consumption and public investment, fueling domestic demand and household consumption and investment. The new government’s policy also plans to increase demand for workers in the public and private sector, forecasting a further decline in the unemployment rate, which hit 4.8% in 2017.</p>"
"text":"agroindustries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> data cover general government debt and include debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data include debt issued by subnational entities, as well as intragovernmental debt; intragovernmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement, medical care, and unemployment, debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions"
"text":"Telecom infrastructure in the Netherlands continues to be upgraded as modernization schemes undertaken by telcos make steady progress; KPN is replacing its copper access network with fiber, either through its own investment program or in conjunction with the wholesale fiber access provider Glaspoort, in which it has a half-share alongside the pension company APG. KPN expected that about 80% of all premises in the country would be covered by its FttP service by 2026; 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 MNOs are also closing down their GSM and 3G networks and re purposing 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 M2M and other low data-use applications while individual MNOs disable their own GSM/3G networks. T-Mobile Netherlands has delayed switching off GSM until June 2023, given that the network is still used for M2M connections and other applications; the country has one of the highest fixed broadband penetration rates in the world, with effective cross-platform competition between DSL, 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; under regulatory measures, the telcos KPN and Vodafone Ziggo are obliged to offer wholesale access to competitors. (2022)"
"text":"extensive fixed-line, fiber-optic network; large cellular telephone system with five major operators utilizing the third generation of the Global System for Mobile Communications technology; one in five households now use Voice over the Internet Protocol services; fixed-line nearly 29 per 100 and mobile-cellular at 125 per 100 persons (2020)"
"text":"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)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced a downturn, particularly in mobile device production; progress toward 5G implementation has resumed, as well as upgrades to infrastructure; consumer spending on telecom services has increased due to the surge in demand for capacity and bandwidth; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home is still evident, and the spike in this area has seen growth opportunities for development of new tools and increased services"
"text":"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"
"text":"Netherlands (Dutch) Armed Forces (Nederlandse Krijgsmacht):Royal Netherlands Army, Royal Netherlands Navy (includes Naval Air Service and Marine Corps), Royal Netherlands Air Force, Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (Military Constabulary) (2022)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the Netherlands Coast Guard and the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard are civilian in nature but managed by the Royal Netherlands Navy"
"text":"the military's inventory consists of a mix of domestically-produced and modern European- and US-sourced equipment; since 2010, the US has been the leading supplier of weapons systems to the Netherlands; the Netherlands has an advanced domestic defense industry that focuses on armored vehicles, naval ships, and air defense systems; it also participates with the US and other European countries on joint development and production of advanced weapons systems (2021)"
"text":"17 years of age for voluntary service for men and women; the military is an all-volunteer force; conscription remains in place, but the requirement to show up for compulsory military service was suspended in 1997; must be a citizen of the Netherlands (2022)",
"note":"<strong>note: </strong>in response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, some NATO countries, including the Netherlands, have sent additional troops and equipment to the battlegroups deployed in NATO territory in eastern Europe"
"text":"the Netherlands is a member of NATO and was one of the original 12 countries to sign the North Atlantic Treaty (also known as the Washington Treaty) in 1949<br><br>since 1973, the Dutch Marine Corps has worked closely with the British Royal Marines, including jointly in the UK-Netherlands amphibious landing force; a Dutch Army airmobile infantry brigade and a mechanized infantry brigade have been integrated into the German Army since 2014 and 2016 respectively<br><br>in 2020, Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands formed a joint Composite Special Operations Component Command (C-SOCC); in 2015, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg signed an agreement to conduct joint air policing of their territories; under the agreement, which went into effect in January of 2017, the Belgian and Dutch Air Forces trade responsibility for patrolling the skies over the three countries (2022)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T"
"text":"<p>a significant transit country for illicit drugs, especially cocaine from South America destined for Europe; one of the largest sources of synthetic drugs for international markets; numerous methamphetamine laboratories; traffickers use postage companies to send cocaine, ecstasy or methamphetamines to global customers</p>"
