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 Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in 1999.

Geographic coordinates: 52 30 N 5 45 E

Map reference: Europe

Area
Total: 41,526 km²
Water: 7,643 km²
Land: 33,883 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: Zuidplaspolder -7 m
Extremes highest point: Vaalserberg 322 m

Natural resources: natural gas petroleum arable land

Land use
Arable land: 26.53%
Permanent crops: 1.03%
Other: 72.44% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 5,650 km² (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: flooding

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

Population: 16,067,754 (July 2002 est.)
Growth rate: 0.53% (2002 est.)
Below poverty line: NA%

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

Ethnic groups: Dutch 83% other 17% (of which 9% are non-western origin mainly Turks Moroccans Antilleans Surinamese and Indonesians) (1999 est.)

Languages: Dutch

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

Age structure
0-14 years: 18.3% (male 1,502,687; female 1,437,141)
15-64 years: 67.9% (male 5,548,188; female 5,362,412)
65 years and over: 13.8% (male 913,020; female 1,304,306) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.53% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 11.58 births/1000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 8.67 deaths/1000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: 2.35 migrant(s)/1000 population (2002 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: 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 (2002 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 4.31 deaths/1000 live births (2002 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 78.58 years
Female: 81.59 years (2002 est.)
Male: 75.7 years

Total fertility rate: 1.65 children born/woman (2002 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); note - the northern provinces of the Low Country concluded the Union of Utrecht but it was 1648 before Spain finally recognized their independence

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 Jan Peter BALKENENDE (since 22 July 2002) and Vice Prime Ministers Johan REMKES (since NA 2002) and Roelf DE BOER (since NA 2002)
Cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the monarch
Elections: none; the monarchy 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: there is also a Council of State composed of the monarch, heir apparent, and councilors that provides consultations to the prime minister on legislative and administrative policy

Legislative branch
Elections: First Chamber - last held 25 May 1999 (next to be held 15 May 2003); Second Chamber - last held 22 January 2003 (next to be held NA January 2007)
Election results: First Chamber - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - CDA 20, VVD 19, PvdA 15, D66 4, other 17; Second Chamber - percent of vote by party - CDA 28.6%, PvdA 27.3%, VVD 12.9%, Socialist Party 6.3%, List Pim Fortuyn 5.7%, Green Party 5.1%, D66 4.1%; seats by party - CDA 44, PvdA 42, VVD 28, Socialist Party 9, List Pim Fortuyn 8, Green Party 8, D66 6, other 5

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

Political parties and leaders: Christian Democratic Appeal or CDA [Jan Peter BALKENENDE]; Christian Union Party [M. VAN DAALEN]; Democrats 66 or D66 [Thom DE GRAAF]; Green Party [Femke HALSEMA]; Labor Party or PvdA [Wouter BOS]; List Pim Fortuyn [Mat HERBEN]; People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Liberal) or VVD [Gerrit ZALM]; Socialist Party [Jan MARIJNISSEN]; 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 Interpol IOC IOM ISO ITU NAM (guest) NATO NEA NSG OAS (observer) OECD OPCW OSCE PCA UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNITAR UNMEE UNMIBH UNTSO UNU UPU WCL WEU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO ZC

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Boudewijn J. VAN EENENNAAM
In the us consulates: Boston
In the us consulates general: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York
In the us fax: [1] (202) 362-3,430
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 244-5,300
In the us chancery: 4,200 Linnean Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,008
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Clifford M. SOBEL
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; one of the oldest flags in constant use originating with William I Prince of Orange in the latter half of the 16th century

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 Netherlands along with 11 of its EU partners began circulating the euro currency on 1 January 2002. The country continues to be one of the leading European nations for attracting foreign direct investment. Economic growth slowed considerably in 2001-02 as part of the global economic slowdown but for the four years before that annual growth averaged nearly 4% well above the EU average.

Real gdp growth rate: 0.3% (2002 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $26,900 (2002 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 3%
Industry: 26%
Services: 71% (2001 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: 2% (2002 est.)

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

Unemployment rate: 3% (2002 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 3%
Highest 10: 25% (1994)

Distribution of family income gini index: 33 (1994)

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

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 3.4% (2002 est.)

Exports: $221.9 billion f.o.b. (2002)
Commodities: machinery and equipment chemicals fuels; foodstuffs
Partners: EU 77.6% (Germany 25.6% Benelux 11.8% UK 11.1% France 10.3% Italy 6.2%) (2001)

Imports: $201.1 billion f.o.b. (2001 est.)
Commodities: machinery and transport equipment chemicals fuels; foodstuffs clothing
Partners: EU 54.6% (Germany 18.4% Benelux 9.2% UK 8.9% France 5.8%) US 9.9% (2001)

Exchange rates: euros per US dollar - 1.1324 (January 2002) 1.1175 (2001) 1.0854 (2000) 0.9386 (1999); Netherlands guilders per US dollar - 1.9837 (1998) 1.9513 (1997)

Electricity
Production: 87.953 billion kWh (2000)
Production by source fossil fuel: 90%
Production by source hydro: 0%
Production by source other: 5% (2000)
Production by source nuclear: 4%
Consumption: 100.71 billion kWh (2000)
Exports: 4.031 billion kWh (2000)
Imports: 22.946 billion kWh (2000)

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 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: 9.73 million (2002)

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

Airports: 28 (2001)
With paved runways total: 21
With paved runways over 3047 m: 2
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 7
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 4
With paved runways under 914 m: 2 (2002)
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 6
With unpaved runways total: 7
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 2
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 5 (2002)

Heliports: 1 (2002)

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

Railways
Total: 2,808 km
Standard gauge: 2,808 km 1.435-m gauge (2,061 km electrified) (2001)

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

Merchant marine
Total: 622 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,587,662 GRT/5,251,529 DWT
Note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Belgium 1, Canada 1, Denmark 5, Finland 5, Germany 55, Ireland 12, Norway 12, Sweden 17, United Kingdom 33, United States 12 (2002 est.)
Ships by type: bulk 3, cargo 380, chemical tanker 46, container 64, liquefied gas 16, livestock carrier 2, multi-functional large-load carrier 15, passenger 9, petroleum tanker 28, refrigerated cargo 34, roll on/roll off 18, short-sea passenger 2, specialized tanker 5

Disputes international: none

Illicit drugs: major European producer of illicit amphetamine and other synthetic drugs; important gateway for cocaine heroin and hashish entering Europe; major source of US-bound ecstasy; large financial sector vulnerable to money laundering