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Netherlands Location: Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between Belgium and Germany Geographic coordinates: 52 30 N, 5 45 E Map references: Europe Area: total: 41,526 sq km land: 33,883 sq km water: 7,643 sqkmArea - comparative: slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey Land boundaries: total: 1,027 km border countries: 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 (powders); some hills in southeast Elevation extremes: lowest point: Prins Alexander polder -7 m 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 sq km (1996 est.) Natural hazards: flooding 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 Environment - 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 signed, but not ratified: Biodiversity, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol Geography - note: located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine, Maas or Meuse, and Scheldt) Netherlands People Top of Page Population: 15,981,472 (July 2001 est.) 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/1,000 population (2001 est.) Death rate: 8.69 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) Net migration rate: 2.34 migrant (s) /1,000 population (2001 est.) under 15 years: 1.05 male (s) /female 15-64 years: 1.03 male (s) /female 65 years and over: 0.7 male (s) /female total population: 0.98 male (s) /female (2001 est.) Infant mortality rate: 4.37 deaths/1,000 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.) HIV / AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.19% (1999 est.) HIV / AIDS - people living with HIV / AIDS: 15,000 (1999 est.) HIV / AIDS - deaths: 100 (1999 est.) Nationality: noun: Dutchman (men), Dutchwoman (women) adjective: Dutch Ethnic groups: Dutch 91%, Moroccans, Turks, and other 9% (1999 est.) Religions: Roman Catholic 31%, Protestant 21%, Muslim 4.4%, other 3.6%, unaffiliated 40% (1998) Languages: Dutch total population: 99% (2000 est.) Netherlands Government Top of Page Country name: conventional long form: Kingdom of the Netherlands conventional short form: Netherlands local long form: Koninkrijk der Nederland en local short form: Nederland Government type: constitutional monarchy Capital: Amsterdam; The Hague is the seat of government Administrative divisions: 12 provinces (provinc ien, singular - province); Drenthe, Flevoland, Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, Noord-Brabant, Noord-Holland, Overijssel, Utrecht, Zeeland, Zuid-Holland Dependent areas: 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 BOOST-EHLERS (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: bicameral States General or Staten General consists of the First Chamber or Eerste Kamer (75 seats; members indirectly elected by the country's 12 provincial councils for four-year terms) and the Second Chamber or Tweed e Kamer (150 seats; members directly elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: First Chamber - last held 25 May 1999 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. DIJK STAL]; a host of minor parties Political pressure groups and leaders: Federation of Netherlands Trade Union Movement (comprising Socialist and Catholic trade unions) and a Protestant trade union; Federation of Catholic and Protestant Employers Associations; Interchurch Peace Council or IV; large multinational firms; the nondenominational Federation of Netherlands Enterprises International organization participation: AfDB, A sDB, Australia Group, Benelux, BIS, , CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECLAT, 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, UNMET, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNTSO, UNU, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, W ToO, Wto, ZC Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Joris M. VOS chancery: 4200 Linnean Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 244-5300 consulate (s) general: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York consulate (s): Boston Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Cynthia P. SCHNEIDER embassy: Lange Voor hout 102, 2514 EJ, The Hague consulate (s) 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 Netherlands Economy Top of Page 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. GDP: purchasing power parity - $388.4 billion (2000 est.) GDP - real growth rate: 4% (2000 est.) GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $24,400 (2000 est.) GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 3.3% services: 70.4% (2000 est.) Population below poverty line: NA% Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.8%highest 10%: 25.1% (1994) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.6% (2000 est.) Labor force: 7.2 million (2000) Labor force - by occupation: services 73%, industry 23%, agriculture 4% (1998 est.) Unemployment rate: 2.6% (2000 est.) Budget: revenues: $134 billion expenditures: $134 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.) Industries: agro industries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing Industrial production growth rate: 3.2% (2000) Electricity - production: 85.294 billion k Wh (1999) Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 90.25% hydro: 0.11% nuclear: 4.27% other: 5.37% (1999) Electricity - consumption: 97.76 billion k Wh (1999) Electricity - exports: 3.97 billion k Wh (1999) Electricity - imports: 22.407 billion k Wh (1999) Agriculture - products: grains, potatoes, sugar beets, fruits, vegetables; livestock Exports: $210.3 billion (f. o. b., 2000) Exports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels; foodstuffs Exports - 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.) Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, fuels; foodstuffs, clothing Imports - partners: EU 56% (Germany 18%, Belgium-Luxembourg 10%, UK 5%, France 6%), US 9%, Central and Eastern Europe (2000) Debt - external: $0 Economic aid - donor: ODA, $3.5 billion (2000 est.) Currency: Netherlands guilder (NLG); euro (EUR) note: on 1 January 1999, the EU introduced the euro as a common currency that is now being used by financial institutions in the Netherlands at a fixed rate of 2.20371 Netherlands guilders per euro and will replace the local currency for all transactions in 2002 Currency code: NLG; EUR 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) Fiscal year: calendar year Netherlands Communications Top of Page Telephones - main lines in use: 9,132,400 (1999) Telephones - 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) Radio broadcast stations: AM 4, FM 58, shortwave 3 (1998) Radios: 15.3 million (1996) Television broadcast stations: 21 (plus 26 repeaters) (1995) Televisions: 8.1 million (1997) Internet country code: . nl Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 52 (2000) Internet users: 6.8 million (2000) Netherlands Transportation Top of Page Railways: total: 2,739 km standard gauge: 2,739 km 1.435-m gauge; (1,991 km electrified) (1998) Highways: total: 125,575 km paved: 113,018 km (including 2,235 km of expressways) unpaved: 12,557 km (1998) Waterways: 5,046 km note: 47% of total route length is usable by craft of 1,000 metric ton capacity or larger Pipelines: crude oil 418 km; petroleum products 965 km; natural gas 10,230 km Ports and harbors: Amsterdam, Delfzijl, Dordrecht, Eem shaven, Groningen, Haarlem, Ijmuiden, Maastricht, Rotterdam, Terneuzen, Utrecht, Vlissingen 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.) Netherlands Military Top of Page Military branches: Royal Netherlands Army, Royal Netherlands Navy (includes Naval Air Service and Marine Corps), Royal Netherlands Air Force, Royal Constabulary Military manpower - military age: 20 years of age Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 4,083,349 (2001 est.) Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 3,555,501 (2001 est.) Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 96,082 (2001 est.) Military expenditures - dollar figure: $6.5 billion (FY 00/01 est.) Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.5% (FY 00/01 est.) Netherlands Transnational Issues Top of Page Disputes - international: none Illicit drugs: major European producer of illicit amphetamine and other synthetic drugs; important gateway for cocaine, heroin, and +hashish entering Europe;.