"text":"<p>The Dutch United Provinces declared their independence from Spain in 1581; during the 17th century, they became a leading seafaring and commercial power, with settlements and colonies around the world. After 18 years of French domination, the Netherlands regained its independence in 1813. 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 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 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":"Rijn (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 (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"
"text":"Het Wereld Feitenboek, een onmisbare bron van informatie. (Dutch)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
},
"note":"<strong>note: </strong>Frisian, Low Saxon, Limburgish, Romani, and Yiddish have protected status; 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":"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"
}
},
"Climate":{
"text":"temperate; marine; cool summers and mild winters"
"text":"Rijn (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":"26 July 1581 (the northern provinces of the Low Countries 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)"
"text":"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"
"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 2023"
"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":"House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal)"
},
"number of seats":{
"text":"150 (all directly elected)"
},
"electoral system":{
"text":"proportional representation"
},
"scope of elections":{
"text":"full renewal"
},
"term in office":{
"text":"4 years"
},
"most recent election date":{
"text":"11/22/2023"
},
"parties elected and seats per party":{
"text":"Party for Freedom (PVV) (37); Labour Party (PvdA) (25); People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) (24); New Social Contract (NSC) (20); Democrats 66 (D66) (9); Other (35)"
"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"
"text":"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"
"text":"Christian Democratic Appeal or CDA<br>Christian Union or CU<br>Correct Answer 2021 or JA21<br>Democrats 66 or D66<br>Denk<br>Farmer-Citizen Movement or BBB<br>50Plus<br>Forum for Democracy or FvD<br>Green Left (GroenLinks) or GL<br>Labor Party or PvdA<br>New Social Contract or NSC<br>Party for Freedom or PVV<br>Party for the Animals or PvdD<br>People's Party for Freedom and Democracy or VVD<br>Reformed Political Party or SGP<br>Socialist Party or SP<br>Together or BIJ1<br>Volt Netherlands or Volt"
"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":"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":"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"
"text":"agroindustries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing"
"note":"<b>note:</b> central government revenues (excluding grants) and expenses converted to US dollars at average official exchange rate for year indicated"
"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; 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)"
"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)"
"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 Marine Corps), Royal Netherlands Air Force, Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (Military Constabulary) (2024)",
"note":"<strong>note 1:</strong> the Netherlands Coast Guard and the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard are civilian in nature but managed by the Royal Netherlands Navy<br><br><strong>note 2:</strong>the core missions of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee are border security, security and surveillance, and international and military police tasks; it has 21 brigades based in eight Dutch provinces, plus Curaçao in the Caribbean, a special missions security brigade, and separate security platoons to guard and protect domestic sites that are most likely to be the targets of attacks, such as government buildings<br><br><strong>note 3:</strong> the national police maintain internal security in the Netherlands and report to the Ministry of Justice and Security, which oversees law enforcement organizations, as do the justice ministries in Aruba, Curacao, and Sint Maarten"
"text":"the military's inventory consists of a mix of domestically produced and modern European- and US-sourced equipment; in recent years, the US has been the leading supplier of weapons systems; 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 (2024)"
"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 (2024)",
"text":"the Dutch military is charged with the three core tasks of defending the country’s national territory and that of its allies, enforcing the national and international rule of law, and providing assistance during disasters and other crises; it also has some domestic security duties, including in the Dutch Caribbean territories; the military operates globally but rarely carries out military operations independently and focuses on cooperating with the armed forces of other countries, particularly with Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and the UK<br><br>the Netherlands has been a member of NATO since its founding in 1949, and the Dutch military is heavily involved in NATO missions and operations with air, ground, and naval forces, including air policing missions over the Benelux countries and Eastern Europe, NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence initiative in the Baltic States and Eastern Europe, and several NATO naval flotillas, as well as standby units for NATO’s rapid response force; the military has previously deployed forces to NATO-led operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo and also regularly contributes to EU- and UN-led missions; Royal Netherlands Marechaussee detachments have been included in international police units deployed by NATO<br><br>the Dutch Army has especially close ties with the German Army, including having its air mobile and mechanized brigades assigned to German divisional headquarters; in addition, the Army shares with the Germans command of a NATO high-readiness corps-level headquarters, which can be ready for deployment inside or outside NATO territory within 20 days; in 2020, Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands formed a joint composite special operations component command<br><br>founded in the late 1400s, the Royal Netherlands Navy is one of the oldest naval forces in the World and conducts a variety of missions worldwide; in addition to its close ties with NATO, the Navy cooperates closely with the Belgian Navy, including a joint staff known as the Admiralty Benelux; it has a command responsible for the activities of Dutch naval units in the Caribbean, which includes combating drug trafficking, environmental crime, and illegal fishing, as well as providing search and rescue and disaster relief capabilities; the Netherlands has naval bases on Curaçao and Aruba; since 1973, the Dutch Marine Corps has worked closely with the British Royal Marines, including jointly in the UK-Netherlands amphibious landing force<br><br>the Dutch military is also part of the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force, a defense framework of 10 Northern European nations designed to provide security to the High North, North Atlantic, and the Baltic Sea Region in response to a crisis (2024)"
"text":"Netherlands Space Office (NSO; established 2009); Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON; advises NSO on scientific space research; established 1983) (2024)"
"text":"has an active space program focused on the added value of space on science, the economy, and society, as well as the development of cutting edge space technologies and services based on satellite data; builds and operates satellites; researches and develops technologies related to astrophysics, telecommunications, remote sensing (RS), propulsion systems, atmospheric measuring instruments (such as spectrometers), planetary/exoplanetary research, and robotics; active member of the European Space Agency (ESA) and participates in the construction of ESA satellite launch vehicles (Arienne and VEGA) and in the ESA astronaut training program; participates in international space programs and with other foreign space agencies and industries, including those of Japan, the US, and members of the EU; has a robust commercial space sector tied in to the larger European space economy (2024)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> further details about the key activities, programs, and milestones of the country’s space program, as well as government spending estimates on the space sector, appear in the Space Programs reference guide"
"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 the Terrorism reference guide"
"text":"<p>a major transit hub for illicit substances, especially cocaine from South and Central America and methamphetamine from Mexico; homegrown synthetic drug makers and illegal chemical precursor manufacturers selling dangerous drugs, including synthetic opioids, via the internet to customers in the United States and worldwide</p> <p></p>"
