The Netherlands Antilles previously known as the Netherlands West Indies or Dutch Antilles/West Indies, are part of the Lesser Antilles and consist of two groups of islands in the Caribbean Sea: Curaçao and Bonaire, just off the Venezuelan coast, and Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten, located southeast of the Virgin Islands.

The islands form an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The islands' economy depends mostly upon tourism and petroleum.

Once the center of the Caribbean slave trade, the island of Curacao was hard hit by the abolition of slavery in 1863.

Its prosperity (and that of neighboring Aruba) was restored in the early 20th century with the construction of oil refineries to service the newly discovered Venezuelan oil fields.

The island of Saint Martin is shared with France; its southern portion is named Sint Maarten and is part of the Netherlands Antilles; its northern portion, called Saint Martin, is an overseas collectivity of France.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 223,652 (July 2007 est.)

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Age structure: 0-14 years: 23.6% (male 27,020/female 25,726) 15-64 years: 67.4% (male 72,449/female 78,259) 65 years and over: 9% (male 8,243/female 11,955) (2007 est.)

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Median age: total: 33.1 years male: 31.4 years female: 34.8 years (2007 est.)

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Population growth rate: 0.777% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate: 14.56 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Death rate: 6.39 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Net migration rate: -0.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.926 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female total population: 0.929 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

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Infant mortality rate: total: 9.63 deaths/1,000 live births male: 10.33 deaths/1,000 live births female: 8.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth: total population: 76.24 years male: 73.96 years female: 78.65 years (2007 est.)

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Total fertility rate: 1.99 children born/woman (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: NA

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: NA

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HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA

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Nationality: noun: Dutch Antillean(s) adjective: Dutch Antillean

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Ethnic groups: mixed black 85%, other 15% (includes Carib Amerindian, white, East Asian)

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Religions: Roman Catholic 72%, Pentecostal 4.9%, Protestant 3.5%, Seventh-Day Adventist 3.1%, Methodist 2.9%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.7%, other Christian 4.2%, Jewish 1.3%, other or unspecified 1.2%, none 5.2% (2001 census)

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Languages: Papiamento 65.4% (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect), English 15.9% (widely spoken), Dutch 7.3% (official), Spanish 6.1%, Creole 1.6%, other 1.9%, unspecified 1.8% (2001 census)

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Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 96.7% male: 96.7% female: 96.8% (2003 est.)

Tourism, petroleum refining, and offshore finance are the mainstays of this small economy, which is closely tied to the outside world. Although GDP has declined or grown slightly in each of the past eight years, the islands enjoy a high per capita income and a well-developed infrastructure compared with other countries in the region. Most of the oil Netherlands Antilles imports for its refineries come from Venezuela. Almost all consumer and capital goods are imported, the US and Mexico being the major suppliers. Poor soils and inadequate water supplies hamper the development of agriculture. Budgetary problems hamper reform of the health and pension systems of an aging population.

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GDP (purchasing power parity): $2.8 billion (2004 est.)

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GDP (official exchange rate): NA

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GDP - real growth rate: 1% (2004 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP): $16,000 (2004 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 1% industry: 15% services: 84% (2000 est.)

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Labor force: 83,600 (2005)

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Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 1% industry: 20% services: 79% (2005 est.)

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Unemployment rate: 17% (2002 est.)

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Population below poverty line: NA%

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Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%

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Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.1% (2003 est.)

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Budget: revenues: $757.9 million expenditures: $949.5 million; including capital expenditures of $NA (2004)

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Agriculture - products: aloes, sorghum, peanuts, vegetables, tropical fruit

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Industries: tourism (Curacao, Sint Maarten, and Bonaire), petroleum refining (Curacao), petroleum transshipment facilities (Curacao and Bonaire), light manufacturing (Curacao)

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Industrial production growth rate: NA%

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Electricity - production: 1.005 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - consumption: 934.7 million kWh (2004)

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Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2004)

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Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2004)

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Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - consumption: 70,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - exports: NA bbl/day

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Oil - imports: NA bbl/day

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Oil - proved reserves: 0 bbl

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Natural gas - production: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Exports: $2.076 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

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Exports - commodities: petroleum products

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Exports - partners: US 27.4%, Panama 13.8%, Mexico 8.5%, Haiti 5.4%, Singapore 4.9%, Venezuela 4.7%, Bahamas, The 4.3% (2006)

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Imports: $4.383 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

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Imports - commodities: crude petroleum, food, manufactures

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Imports - partners: Venezuela 47.2%, US 20.1%, Italy 7.2%, Netherlands 4.6% (2006)

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Debt - external: $2.68 billion (2004)

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Economic aid - recipient: $21.5 million note: IMF provided $61 million in 2000, and the Netherlands continued its support with $40 million (2004)

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Currency (code): Netherlands Antillean guilder (ANG)

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Exchange rates: Netherlands Antillean guilders per US dollar - 1.79 (2006), 1.79 (2005), 1.79 (2004), 1.79 (2003), 1.79 (2002)

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Fiscal year: calendar year