Background: The 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 a brutal invasion and occupation by Germany 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 EC and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999.

Geographic coordinates: 52 30 N 5 45 E

Map reference: Europe

Area
Total: 41,526 km²
Land: 33,883 km²
Water: 7,643 km²
Comparative: slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey

Land boundaries
Total: 1,027 km
Border countries: (2) Belgium 450 km; , Germany 577 km

Coastline: 451 km

Maritime claims
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM
Territorial sea: 12 NM

Climate: temperate; marine; cool summers and mild winters

Terrain: mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (polders); some hills in southeast

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Prins Alexanderpolder -7 m
Extremes highest point: Vaalserberg 321 m

Natural resources: natural gas petroleum arable land

Land use
Arable land: 25%
Permanent crops: 3%
Permanent pastures: 25%
Forests and woodland: 8%
Other: 39% (1996 est.)

Irrigated land: 6,000 km² (1996 est.)

Natural hazards: flooding

Geography
Note: located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine Maas or Meuse and Schelde)

Population: 15,981,472 (July 2001 est.)
Growth rate: 0.55% (2001 est.)
Below poverty line: NA%

Nationality
Noun: Dutchman(men), Dutchwoman(women)
Adjective: Dutch

Ethnic groups: Dutch 91% Moroccans Turks and other 9% (1999 est.)

Languages: Dutch

Religions: Roman Catholic 31% Protestant 21% Muslim 4.4% other 3.6% unaffiliated 40% (1998)

Age structure
0-14 years: 18.38% (male 1,501,925; female 1,436,017)
15-64 years: 67.9% (male 5,518,575; female 5,333,442)
65 years and over: 13.72% (male 899,052; female 1,292,461) (2001 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.55% (2001 est.)

Birth rate: 11.85 births/1000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate: 8.69 deaths/1000 population (2001 est.)

Net migration rate: 2.34 migrant(s)/1000 population (2001 est.)

Environment
Current issues: water pollution in the form of heavy metals organic compounds and nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates; air pollution from vehicles and refining activities; acid rain
International agreements party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
International agreements signed but not ratified: Biodiversity, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.04 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.05 male/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male/female
65 years and over: 0.7 male/female
Total population: 0.98 male/female (2001 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 4.37 deaths/1000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 78.43 years
Male: 75.55 years
Female: 81.44 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.65 children born/woman (2001 est.)

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.19% (1999 est.)
People living with hivaids: 15,000 (1999 est.)
Deaths: 100 (1999 est.)

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 99% (2000 est.)
Male: NA%
Female: NA%

Country name
Conventional long form: Kingdom of the Netherlands
Conventional short form: Netherlands
Local long form: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden
Local short form: Nederland

Government type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: Amsterdam; The Hague is the seat of government

Administrative divisions: 12 provinces (provincien singular - provincie); Drenthe Flevoland Friesland Gelderland Groningen Limburg Noord-Brabant Noord-Holland Overijssel Utrecht Zeeland Zuid-Holland

Dependent areas: (1) Aruba Netherlands Antilles

Independence: 1579 (from Spain)

National holiday: Queen's Day (Birthday of Queen-Mother JULIANA in 1909 and accession to the throne of her oldest daughter BEATRIX in 1980) 30 April

Constitution: adopted 1814; amended many times last time 17 February 1983

Legal system: civil law system incorporating French penal theory; constitution does not permit judicial review of acts of the States General; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: Queen BEATRIX (since 30 April 1980); Heir Apparent WILLEM-ALEXANDER (born 27 April 1967), son of the monarch
Head of government: Prime Minister Wim KOK (since 22 August 1994) and Vice Prime Ministers Annemarie JORRITSMA (since 3 August 1998) and Els BORST-EILERS (since 3 August 1998)
Cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the monarch
Elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; following Second Chamber elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the monarch; vice prime ministers appointed by the monarch
Note: government coalition - PvdA, VVD, and D'66; there is also a Council of State composed of the monarch, heir apparent, and councilors consulted by the executive on legislative and administrative policy

Legislative branch
Elections: First Chamber - last held 25 May 1999 (next to be held NA May 2003); Second Chamber - last held 6 May 1998 (next to be held May 2002)
Election results: First Chamber - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - CDA 20, VVD 19, PvdA 15, D'66 4, other 17; Second Chamber - percent of vote by party - PvdA 30.0%, VVD 25.3%, CDA 19.3%, D'66 9.3%, other 16.1%; seats by party - PvdA 45, VVD 38, CDA 29, D'66 14, other 24

Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Hoge Raad (justices are nominated for life by the monarch)

Political parties and leaders: Christian Democratic Appeal or CDA [Jaap de Hoop SCHEFFER]; Democrats '66 or D'66 [Tom DE GRAAF]; Labor Party or PvdA [Wim KOK]; People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Liberal) or VVD [Hans F. DIJKSTAL]; a host of minor parties

International organization participation: AfDB AsDB Australia Group Benelux BIS CCC CE CERN EAPC EBRD ECE ECLAC EIB EMU ESA ESCAP EU FAO G-10 IADB IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICFTU ICRM IDA IEA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Inmarsat Intelsat Interpol IOC IOM ISO ITU NAM (guest) NATO NEA NSG OAS (observer) OECD OPCW OSCE PCA UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNFICYP UNHCR UNIDO UNITAR UNMEE UNMIBH UNMIK UNTSO UNU UPU WCL WEU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO ZC

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Joris M. VOS
In the us chancery: 4,200 Linnean Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 244-5,300
In the us fax: [1] (202) 362-3,430
In the us consulates general: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York
In the us consulates: Boston
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Cynthia P. SCHNEIDER
From the us embassy: Lange Voorhout 102, 2,514 EJ, The Hague
From the us mailing address: PSC 71, Box 1000, APO AE 9,715
From the us telephone: [31] (70) 310-9,209
From the us fax: [31] (70) 361-4,688
From the us consulates general: Amsterdam

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top) white and blue; similar to the flag of Luxembourg which uses a lighter blue and is longer

Economy overview: The Netherlands is a prosperous and open economy depending heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable industrial relations moderate inflation a sizable current account surplus and an important role as a European transportation hub. Industrial activity is predominantly in food processing chemicals petroleum refining and electrical machinery. A highly mechanized agricultural sector employs no more than 4% of the labor 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 US and France. The Dutch economy has expanded by 3% or more in each of the last four years and real GDP growth is likely to be about 3.6% in 2001. The government in 2001 will implement its most comprehensive tax reform since World War II designed to reduce high income tax levels and redirect the fiscal burden onto consumption. The Dutch were among the first 11 EU countries establishing the euro currency zone on 1 January 1999.

Real gdp growth rate: 4% (2000 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $24,400 (2000 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 3.3%
Industry: 26.3%
Services: 70.4% (2000 est.)

Agriculture products: grains potatoes sugar beets fruits vegetables; livestock

Industries: agroindustries metal and engineering products electrical machinery and equipment chemicals petroleum construction microelectronics fishing

Industrial production growth rate: 3.2% (2000)

Labor force: 7.2 million (2000)
By occupation services: 73%
By occupation industry: 23%
By occupation agriculture: 4% (1998 est.)

Unemployment rate: 2.6% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 2.8%
Highest 10: 25.1% (1994)

Budget
Revenues: $134 billion
Expenditures: $134 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 2.6% (2000 est.)

Exports: $210.3 billion (f.o.b. 2000)
Commodities: machinery and equipment chemicals fuels; foodstuffs
Partners: EU 78% (Germany 26% Belgium-Luxembourg 12% France 12% UK 11% Italy 6%) Central and Eastern Europe US (2000)

Imports: $201.2 billion (c.i.f. 2000 est.)
Commodities: machinery and transport equipment chemicals fuels; foodstuffs clothing
Partners: EU 56% (Germany 18% Belgium-Luxembourg 10% UK 5% France 6%) US 9% Central and Eastern Europe (2000)

Debt external: $0

Exchange rates: euros per US dollar - 1.0659 (January 2001) 1.0854 (2000) 0.9386 (1999); Netherlands guilders per US dollar - 1.9837 (1998) 1.9513 (1997) 1.6859 (1996)

Electricity
Production: 85.294 billion kWh (1999)
Production by source fossil fuel: 90.25%
Production by source hydro: 0.11%
Production by source nuclear: 4.27%
Production by source other: 5.37% (1999)
Consumption: 97.76 billion kWh (1999)
Exports: 3.97 billion kWh (1999)
Imports: 22.407 billion kWh (1999)

Telephones
Main lines in use: 9,132,400 (1999)
Mobile cellular: 4,081,891 (April 1999)

Telephone system
General assessment: highly developed and well maintained
Domestic: the existing system of multi-conductor cables is gradually being replaced by fiber-optic cables; the density of cellular telephone traffic is rapidly increasing and further modernization of the system is expected in the year 2001, with the introduction of the third generation of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)
International: 5 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean and 2 Atlantic Ocean), 1 Eutelsat, and 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions) (1996)

Internet
Country code: .nl
Service providers isps: 52 (2000)
Users: 6.8 million (2000)

Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $6.5 billion (FY00/01 est.)
Percent of gdp: 1.5% (FY00/01 est.)

Airports: 28 (2000 est.)
With paved runways total: 19
With paved runways over 3047 m: 2
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 7
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 6
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 3
With paved runways under 914 m: 1 (2000 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 9
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 3
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 6 (2000 est.)

Heliports: 1 (2000 est.)

Pipelines: crude oil 418 km; petroleum products 965 km; natural gas 10,230 km

Railways
Total: 2,739 km
Standard gauge: 2,739 km 1.435-m gauge; (1,991 km electrified) (1998)

Waterways
Note: 47% of total route length is usable by craft of 1,000 metric ton capacity or larger

Merchant marine
Total: 596 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,321,500 GRT/4,877,632 DWT
Ships by type: bulk 3, cargo 371, chemical tanker 43, container 59, liquefied gas 21, livestock carrier 1, multi-functional large-load carrier 9, passenger 8, petroleum tanker 26, refrigerated cargo 29, roll on/roll off 18, short-sea passenger 3, specialized tanker 5 (2000 est.)

Disputes international: none