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Netherlands – Important Facts

The Netherlands is a constituent country located in Western Europe and with territories in the Caribbean. It is bordered by Belgium and Germany. The Netherlands is mostly low-lying, located at the mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine, Meuse, and Schelde). The government system is a constitutional monarchy; the chief of state is the king, and the head of government is the prime minister. The Netherlands has a mixed economic system which includes a variety of private freedom, combined with centralized economic planning and government regulation. Netherlands is a member of the European Union (EU).

The Netherlands have a prosperous and open economy, which depends heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable industrial relations, fairly low unemployment and inflation, a very big sizable current account surplus (compared to the size of the country even more than Germany) and an important role as a European transportation hub, with Rotterdam as far out the biggest port in Europe and Amsterdam as one of the biggest airports in Europe. Industrial activity is predominantly in food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, hightech, financial services, creative sector and electrical machinery. A highly mechanised agricultural sector employs no more than 2% of the labour 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 stern financial policy has been abandoned in 2009 on account of the current credit crises. The relatively large banking sector was partly nationalised and bailed out through government interventions. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.0% in the summer of 2011, but increased with a sharp rate since then to 7.3% in May 2013 and 6.8% in 2015. The state budget deficit is about 2.2% in 2015 well below the norm of 3.0% in the EU. Historically, the Dutch introduced and invented the stock market by the merchandise trading through Dutch East India Company. The Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union, the OECD and the World Trade Organization.

Important Details

  • Country ISO3 : NLD
  • Country Code : 528
  • Income Group : High income
  • Lending Category : P2P
  • Region : Europe & Central Asia
  • Currency Unit: Euro
  • WTO Member : Yes
  • Trade organisations : EU, WTO and OECD
  • world rank : 16
  • Regional Ranking : 7th in Europe