Country Fast Facts: Netherlands

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 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 EEC (now the EU), and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population:
16,570,613 (July 2007 est.)

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Age structure:
0-14 years: 17.8% (male 1,505,931/female 1,436,532)
15-64 years: 67.8% (male 5,683,877/female 5,557,745)
65 years and over: 14.4% (male 1,015,731/female 1,370,797) (2007 est.)

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Median age:
total: 39.7 years
male: 38.9 years
female: 40.5 years (2007 est.)

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Population growth rate:
0.464% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate:
10.7 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Death rate:
8.69 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Net migration rate:
2.63 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.048 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.023 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.741 male(s)/female
total population: 0.981 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

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Infant mortality rate:
total: 4.88 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 5.43 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 4.31 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 79.11 years
male: 76.52 years
female: 81.82 years (2007 est.)

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Total fertility rate:
1.66 children born/woman (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.2% (2001 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
19,000 (2001 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - deaths:
less than 100 (2003 est.)

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Nationality:
noun: Dutchman(men), Dutchwoman(women)
adjective: Dutch

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

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Religions:
Roman Catholic 31%, Dutch Reformed 13%, Calvinist 7%, Muslim 5.5%, other 2.5%, none 41% (2002)

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Languages:
Dutch (official), Frisian (official)

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Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.)

The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy, which depends heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable industrial relations, moderate unemployment and 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 2% 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 2001-06, as part of the global economic slowdown, but for the four years before that, annual growth averaged nearly 4%, well above the EU average.

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GDP (purchasing power parity):
$529.1 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP (official exchange rate):
$612.7 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP - real growth rate:
2.9% (2006 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP):
$32,100 (2006 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.1%
industry: 23.9%
services: 73.9% (2006 est.)

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Labor force:
7.6 million (2006 est.)

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Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 2%
industry: 19%
services: 79% (2004 est.)

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Unemployment rate:
5.5% (2006 est.)

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Population below poverty line:
10.5% (1999)

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Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.5%
highest 10%: 22.9% (1999)

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Distribution of family income - Gini index:
30.9 (2005)

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Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.4% (2006 est.)

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Investment (gross fixed):
19.3% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Budget:
revenues: $304.3 billion
expenditures: $306.5 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)

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Public debt:
50.8% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Agriculture - products:
grains, potatoes, sugar beets, fruits, vegetables; livestock

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

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Industrial production growth rate:
2.3% (2006 est.)

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Electricity - production:
92.7 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - consumption:
102.4 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - exports:
5.2 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - imports:
21.4 billion kWh (2004)

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Oil - production:
95,800 bbl/day (2004)

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Oil - consumption:
946,700 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - exports:
1.546 million bbl/day (2004)
Oil - imports:
2.465 million bbl/day (2004)

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Oil - proved reserves:
106 million bbl (1 January 2005)

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Natural gas - production:
85.98 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption:
51.3 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - exports:
53.56 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - imports:
18.85 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - proved reserves:
1.756 trillion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

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Current account balance:
$50.17 billion (2006 est.)

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Exports:
$413.8 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Exports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels; foodstuffs

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Exports - partners:
Germany 25.5%, Belgium 14%, UK 8.9%, France 8.6%, Italy 5.1%, US 4.4% (2006)

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Imports:
$373.8 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Imports - commodities:
machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs, clothing

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Imports - partners:
Germany 17.1%, Belgium 9.5%, China 9.4%, US 7.8%, UK 5.9%, Russia 5.1%, France 4.6% (2006)

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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$10.24 billion (August 2006 est.)

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Debt - external:
$1.899 trillion (30 June 2006)

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Economic aid - donor:
ODA, $4 billion (2003 est.)

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Currency (code):
euro (EUR)
note: on 1 January 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by financial institutions of member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions within the member countries

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Exchange rates:
euros per US dollar - 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002)

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Fiscal year:
calendar year