The three Caribbean islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba belong to the Netherlands and are considered as overseas territories of the EU, i.e., they are not part of the customs union or Schengen area
Indonesia (Dutch
East Indies, independence in 1949), Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, belonged to the Dutch colonial empire
Abolition of Slavery: 1814
The headquarters of the International Court of Justice (United
Nations) are in The Hague
The Baptist Church was created by John Smyth in the Netherlands
The Netherlands belongs to the European Economic Area.
Economy of the Netherlands.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is one of the most developed countries in the world, occupying the third place in human development (United Nations Human Development Index)
According to the World Bank and IMF,
the Netherlands is the 18th largest economy in the world
The global financial crisis triggered a major crisis
The Netherlands has been a member of the EU since 1958
Currency of the Netherlands: Euro (1999)
Dutch GDP (nominal): 836,000 million EUR
GDP per capita of the Netherlands: EUR 50,087
79% of the Dutch workforce works in the services sector
The Netherlands is the eighth most competitive country in the world
The main Dutch industrial activities are food processing, chemical industries, petroleum refining, electric machines
The main Dutch companies are Royal Dutch Shell (oil), ABN AMRO Bank, Philips (consumer electronics), Heineken (Beers), Unilever (consumer products), KLM
Many non-Dutch companies are based in the Netherlands, such as EADS, LyondellBasell and IKEA, due to low corporate taxes
The Netherlands has significant natural gas resources
Dutch Foreign Trade
Dutch agri-food sector is crucial and highly export oriented (the third largest food product
exporter in the world)
The main Dutch Exports are natural gas, machinery, chemical products, fuels, food products
Top Dutch exports destinations: Germany (24%), Belgium, France, the UK, Italy
The main Dutch Imports are machinery, transport equipment, chemical products, fuels, foods, textiles
The main suppliers of the Netherlands are Germany, China, Belgium, the UK, Norway
As a member of the EU, the Netherlands is the beneficiary of the EU trade agreements with the ASEAN, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia...
The Port of Rotterdam is the seventh largest port of the world for container traffic and the largest European port. Distances from the Port of Rotterdam to: