The Caribbean Netherlands (, ) is a geographic region of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

located outside of Europe, in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, consisting of three special municipalities. These are the islands of

Bonaire Bonaire is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles, and is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially Public body (Netherlands), "public body") of the Netherlands. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (Windward an ...

Sint Eustatius Sint Eustatius, known locally as Statia, is an island in the Caribbean. It is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially "Public body (Netherlands), public body") of the Netherlands. The island is in the northern Leeward Islands ...

, and

Saba Saba may refer to: Places * Saba (island), an island of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea * Sabá, a municipality in the department of Colón, Honduras * Șaba or Șaba-Târg, the Romanian name for Shabo, a village in Ukraine * Saba, ...

,"Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba" is the listed English name for the territorial grouping in the

International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. M ...

ISO 3166-1 ISO 3166-1 (''Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country code'') is a standard defining codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. It i ...

, where the English spelling was corrected with the release o
ISO 3166-1 Newsletter VI-9
. as they are also known in legislation, or the BES islands for short. The islands are officially classified as

public bodies A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, but they are corporations owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in ...

in the Netherlands and as overseas territories of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

; as such,

European Union law European Union law is a system of Supranational union, supranational Law, laws operating within the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). It has grown over time since the 1952 founding of the European Coal and Steel Community, to promote ...

does not automatically apply to them. Bonaire (including the

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

of Klein Bonaire) is one of the

Leeward Antilles The Leeward Antilles (; ) are a chain of islands in the Caribbean, specifically part of the southerly islands of the Lesser Antilles (and, in turn, the Antilles and the West Indies) along the southeastern fringe of the Caribbean Sea, just no ...

and is located close to the coast of

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. Sint Eustatius and Saba are in the main

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

group and are located south of

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean region of North America. With a population of 58,477 as of June 2023 on an area of , it encompasses ...

and northwest of

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...

. The Caribbean Netherlands, a term distinct from the comprehensive

Dutch Caribbean The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the New World territories, colonies, and countries (former and current) of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea, mainly the norther ...

, has a population of 31,980.

Legal status

The three islands gained their current status following the

dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was dissolved on 10 October 2010. After dissolution, the "BES islands" of the Dutch Caribbean— Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba—became ...

on 10 October 2010. At the same time, the islands of

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

and

became constituent countries () within the

Kingdom of the Netherlands The Kingdom of the Netherlands (, ;, , ), commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The re ...

. The island of

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

is also a constituent country of the Kingdom; Aruba gaining its status in 1986 after seceding from The

Netherlands Antilles The Netherlands Antilles (, ; ), also known as the Dutch Antilles, was a constituent Caribbean country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the islands of Saba (island), Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles, ...

. The constituent countries of the Dutch kingdom are autonomous (self-governing) while the special municipalities (Caribbean Netherlands) are legally part of the constituent country of The Netherlands. The Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of the constituent countries of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and The Netherlands (which includes Bonaire, Saba, St. Eustatius). The term "

" may refer to the three special municipalities (e.g. for stamps), but may also refer to all of the Caribbean islands within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Caribbean Netherlands, not to be confused with the comprehensive Dutch Caribbean, has a population of 31,980 as of 2025. Their total area is . In 2012, the islands of the Caribbean Netherlands voted for the first time, due to being special municipalities of the Netherlands, in the

2012 Dutch general election Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 12 September 2012 after Prime Minister Mark Rutte handed in his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix on 23 April. The 150 seats of the House of Representatives were contested using par ...

Administration

The special municipalities () carry many of the functions normally performed by Dutch municipalities. The executive power rests with the Governing Council headed by an Island governor. The main democratic body is the island council. Dutch citizens of these three islands are entitled to vote in Dutch national elections and (as all Dutch nationals) in European elections. Officially the islands are classed in Dutch law as being (literally translated as "public bodies") and not (

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

). Unlike normal municipalities, they do not form part of a Dutch province and the powers normally exercised by provincial councils within municipalities are divided between the island governments themselves and the central government by means of the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands. For this reason, they are called "special" municipalities. Many Dutch laws have a special Caribbean Netherlands version. For example,

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

is not on the same level as it is in the European Netherlands. AgeSexPyramid 2023 Caribisch Nederland

National Office

The ''National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands'' () is responsible for taxation, policing, immigration, transport infrastructure, health, education, and social security in the islands and provides these services on behalf of the Government of the Netherlands. This agency was established as the Regional Service Center in 2008 and became the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands on 1 September 2010. The current director is Jan Helmond. The ''Representative for the public bodies of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba'' represents the Government of the Netherlands on the islands and also performs tasks similar to a

King's Commissioner A King's commissioner (, ''CvdK'') is the head of government and legislature in a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands. When the List of monarchs of the Netherlands, reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Queen's commission ...

. The current representative is Gilbert Isabella.

Relationship with the European Union

The islands do not form part of the

and instead constitute "overseas countries and territories" (OCT status) of the Union, to which special provisions apply.Per the Annex II of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two Treaty, treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all Member stat ...

introduced a procedure where the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...

may change the status of an overseas territory of Denmark, France, or the Netherlands regarding the application of the EU treaties to that territory.Now contained in Article 355(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In June 2008, the Dutch government published a survey of the legal and economic impacts by a switched status from OCT to

outermost region The special territories of members of the European Economic Area (EEA) are the 32 special territories of Member state of the European Union, EU member states and European Free Trade Association, EFTA member states which, for historical, geograph ...

(OMR). The position of the islands was reviewed after a five-year transitional period, which began with the

in October 2010. The review was conducted as part of the planned review of the Dutch "Act for the

Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba" (), where the islands have been granted the option to become an OMR – and thus a direct part of the European Union. In October 2015, the review concluded the present legal structures for governance and integration with European Netherlands was not working well within the framework of WolBES, but no recommendations were made in regards of whether a switch from OCT to OMR status would help improve this situation.

Foreign policy and defence

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has overarching responsibility for foreign relations, defence and Dutch nationality law in the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom. Units of the

Netherlands Armed Forces The Netherlands Armed Forces () are the military, military forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (mainland Netherlands in Europe and islands of the Dutch Caribbean). The armed forces consist of four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Nav ...

deployed in the Caribbean include: * 32 Infantry Company of the

Royal Netherlands Marine Corps The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps () is the elite naval infantry corps of the Royal Netherlands Navy, one of the four Armed Forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The marines trace their origins to the establishment of the on 10 Decembe ...

on Aruba; * a Marine Corps detachment on Sint Maarten; * a Fast Raiding Interception and Special Forces Craft (FRISC) troop (fast boats) on Curaçao and Aruba; * a company of the

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army (, KL) is the Ground warfare, land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised making the Dutch standing a ...

on Curaçao on a rotational basis; * a guardship, normally a , from the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

on station on a rotational basis; * the Royal Netherlands Navy support vessel ; * Arumil (Aruban) and Curmil (Curaçaoan) militia elements; * a Netherlands Armed Forces

Royal Marechaussee The Royal Marechaussee (, abbreviated to KMar) also translated as the Royal Military Constabulary, is the national gendarmerie force of the Netherlands, performing military and civilian police duties. It is also one of the two national police ...

brigade. Additionally, the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard is funded by the four countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Coast Guard is managed by the Ministry of Defence and is directed by the commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy in the Caribbean.

Geography

The Caribbean Netherlands form part of the

. Within this island group: *

is part of the ABC islands within the

island chain off the

n coast. The Leeward Antilles have a mixed volcanic and coral origin. *

and

are part of the

SSS islands The SSS islands (), locally also known as the Dutch Windward Islands ( or ), is a collective term for the three territories of the Dutch Caribbean (formerly the Netherlands Antilles) that are located within the Leeward Islands group of the Less ...

within the

Leeward Islands The Leeward Islands () are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In Engl ...

. They are located east of

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands () are an archipelago between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Caribbean Sea, geographically forming part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, Caribbean islands or West Indie ...

. The locals (French, Spanish, Dutch and the locally spoken English) consider them part of the Windward Islands, although, in the international English language, the

Windward Islands The Windward Islands are the southern, generally larger islands of the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean islands or the West Indies. Located approximately between latitudes 10° and 16° N and longitudes 60° and 62° W, they extend from D ...

refer to other islands further south. These two islands are of volcanic origin and hilly, leaving little ground suitable for

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. The highest point is

Mount Scenery Mount Scenery (pronounced like the word 'scenery') is a dormant volcano in the Caribbean Netherlands. Its lava dome forms the summit of the Saba island stratovolcano. At an elevation of , it is the highest point in both the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, , on

. This is the highest point in the country and in the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands. File:Caribbean Netherlands map.png, Map showing Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba File:The Netherlands (incl. BES) in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.svg, Relative distance between mainland Netherlands in Europe and the Caribbean Netherlands File:Kingdom of the Netherlands location tree.svg, The Caribbean BES islands are subdivisions of the country of the Netherlands and are therefore referred to as the "Caribbean Netherlands." File:Bonaire - Caribe (358903421).jpg, Klein Bonaire (

in the background) File:Corner Point (6550002273).jpg, The hilly terrain of

Climate

The islands of the Caribbean Netherlands enjoy a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

with warm weather all year round. The Leeward Antilles are warmer and drier than the Windward islands. In summer, the Windward Islands can be subject to

hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

Forest cover Forest cover is the amount of trees that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/ square miles). Nearly a third of the world's land surface is covered with forest, with clos ...

is around 6% of the total land area of the Caribbean Netherlands, equivalent to 1,910 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, which was unchanged from 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 1,910 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 0 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 0% was reported to be

primary forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...

(consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 17% of the forest area was found within protected areas.

Currency

Until 1 January 2011, the three islands used the

Netherlands Antillean guilder The Netherlands Antillean guilder (; ) is a currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, which until 2010 formed the Netherlands Antilles along with Bonaire, Saba (island), Saba, and Sint Eustatius. It is subdivided into 100 ''cents'' (Dutch plural: ' ...

; after that all three switched to the U.S. dollar, rather than the

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

(which is used in the European Netherlands) or the

Caribbean guilder The Caribbean guilder (code: XCG; abbreviation: Cg; ; ) is a currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, two constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is divided into 100 cents (). Introduced on 31 March 2025, it co-circulates alon ...

(which is being adopted by the other two former Antillean islands of

and

Communications

The telephone

country code A country code is a short alphanumeric identification code for countries and dependent areas. Its primary use is in data processing and communications. Several identification systems have been developed. The term ''country code'' frequently re ...

remains

599 __NOTOC__ Year 599 (Roman numerals, DXCIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 599 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent m ...

, that of the former Netherlands Antilles, and is shared with Curaçao. The

has assigned the

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, dependent territories, and special ...

country code ISO 3166-2:BQ for these islands. The

IANA The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Internet P ...

has not established a root zone for the .bq Internet

ccTLD A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all tw ...

and whether it will be used is unknown.

Notes

References

External links

Official website of the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands

Official website of the government of Bonaire

Official website of the government of Saba

Official website of the government of St. Eustatius
{{Authority control . Integral overseas territories Archipelagoes of the Netherlands Leeward Islands (Caribbean) Subdivisions of the Netherlands Municipalities of the Netherlands established in 2010 2010s establishments in the Caribbean 2010 establishments in North America Dutch diaspora in the Caribbean