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Netherlands

Netherlands
General information
Common namethe Netherlands
Local name 
Name 
MottoJe maintiendrai (French)
(I will maintain) 
AnthemThe Wilhelmus
CapitalAmsterdam 
Largest citycapital
Official languagesDutch
Regional languagesFrisian (in Friesland), Papiamento (in Bonaire), English (in Sint Eustatius and Saba
Ethnic groups80.7% Dutch,
5% EU varieties,
2.4% Indonesians,
2.2% Turks,
2% Surinamese,
2% Moroccans,
0.8% Caribbean
4.8% others (2008)
DemonymDutch
Government
GovernmentParliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch
MonarchBeatrix
Prime MinisterMark Rutte (VVD)
Deputy Prime MinisterMaxime Verhagen (CDA)
Current coalitionVVD-CDA Coalition
LegislatureStates-General
Upper HouseSenate
Lower HouseHouse of Representatives
IndependenceIndependence (As result of the Eighty Years' War from the Habsburg Empire)
Declared26 July 1581
Recognised30 January 1648 
EU accession25 March 1957
Geography
Total Area16158 sq mi (41849.2 km2) (135th)
Water %18.41
Demography
Population Est.{{formatnum: }} (61st)
Density (pop.) /km2 (0/sq mi)
Economy
GDP PPP$676.895 billion (2010)
GDP (PPP) per capita$40,764
GDP (nominal)$783.293 billion (2010)
GDP (nominal) per capita$47,172
Other information
Gini30.9   (2006) (medium)
HDI(+) 0.890 (2010) (very high) (7th)
CurrencyEuro (-): Netherlands , United States dollar ($): Caribbean Netherlands 
Time zoneCET and AST (UTC+1 and −4)
- Summer (DST)CEST and AST
(UTC+2 and −4)
Drives on theright
Internet TLD.nl 
Calling code31, +599 

Netherlands

Map CaptionAn anachronous map of the Dutch colonial Empire. Light green: territories administered by or originating from territories administered by the Dutch East India Company; dark green: the Dutch West India Company.

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The Netherlands c-enaudio=en-us-Netherlands.oggˈnɛðərləndz ( -nlˈneːdərlɑntNl-Nederland is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces (a case of pars pro toto; see terminology of "the Netherlands").

The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying country, with about 25% of its area and 21% of its population located below sea level, and 50% of its land lying less than one metre above sea level. This distinct feature contributes to the country's name in many other European languages (e.g. German: Niederlande, French: Les Pays-Bas and Spanish: Países Bajos, literally mean "(The) Low Countries").

Significant land area has been gained through land reclamation and preserved through an elaborate system of polders and dikes. Much of the Netherlands is formed by the estuary of three important European rivers, which together with their distributaries form the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta. Most of the country is very flat, with the exception of foothills in the far southeast and several low-hill ranges in the central parts.

The Netherlands was one of the first countries to have an elected parliament. Among other affiliations the country is a founding member of the EU, NATO, OECD and WTO. With Belgium and Luxembourg it forms the Benelux economic union. The country is host to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and five international courts: the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The first four are situated in The Hague as is the EU's criminal intelligence agency Europol and judicial co-operation agency Eurojust. This has led to the city being dubbed "the world's legal capital". The Netherlands has a capitalist market-based economy, ranking 13th of 157 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. In May 2011, the Netherlands was ranked as the 'happiest' country according to results published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.


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