The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Netherlands.

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 ...

–

parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

democratic

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...

. Its European mainland is bordered by the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

to the north and west,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

to the south, and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to the east. The

European Netherlands , informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; i ...

constitutes the vast majority (by land area and population) of both the country and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and as such 'the Netherlands' in common parlance often implicitly refers to this entity. Similarly, the articles linked to below predominantly consider the European Netherlands.

General reference

* Pronunciation: * Common English country names:

, (imprecisely

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

) * Official English country name:

** A constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which comprises the

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 ...

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

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 ...

. * Common

endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

(s): Nederland ** Pronunciation: * Official endonym(s): Nederland * Adjectivals: Dutch,

Demonym A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...

(s): Dutch *

Etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

: Name of the Netherlands *

International rankings of the Netherlands These are the international rankings of the Netherlands. Culture Economy * International Monetary Fund: Income per capita in purchasing power parity ranked 9 out of 181 (2011) *United Nations Development Programme: Human Development Index ran ...

ISO country codes 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 ...

: NL, NLD, 528 *

ISO region codes ISO 3166-2 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and defines codes for identifying the principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces or states) of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1. The of ...

: See ISO 3166-2:NL *

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

country code top-level domain 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 ...

: .nl

Geography of the Netherlands

Geography of the Netherlands The geography of the European Netherlands is unusual in that much of its land has been reclaimed from the sea and is below sea level, protected by dike (construction), dikes. It is a List of countries and dependencies by area, small country w ...

* The Netherlands is: ** a

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

, part of 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 ...

** a

member state of the European Union The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of Lists of member states of the European Union, 27 member states that are party to the EU's Treaties of the European Union, founding treaties, and thereby subject to the privileges and ...

** a member state of NATO * Location (European Netherlands): **

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

and

Eastern Hemisphere The Eastern Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth which is east of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and west of the antimeridian (which crosses the Pacific Ocean and relatively little land from pole to p ...

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

***

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

****

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

Time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...

Central European Time Central European Time (CET) is a standard time of Central, and parts of Western Europe, which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The UTC offset, time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It is used in most parts of Eur ...

(

UTC+01 +01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time **Britis ...

Central European Summer Time Central European Summer Time (CEST, UTC+02:00), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central E ...

(

UTC+02 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

) ** Extreme points of the Netherlands: ***North: 53°33′18″N 6°28′41″E ***East: 53°10′49″N 7°13′40″E ***South: 50°45′01.5″N 5°54′54.0″E ***West: 51°18′57″N 3°21′30″E ***High:

Vaalserberg The Vaalserberg (; ) is a hill with a height of above Amsterdam Ordnance Datum, NAP and is the highest point in the Netherlands#Geography, European part of the Netherlands. The Vaalserberg is located in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), ...

***Low:

Zuidplaspolder The Zuidplaspolder is a polder in the western Netherlands, located northeast of Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, neighbouring settlements such as Zuidplas, Zevenhuizen, Waddinxveen, Moerkapelle, Gouda, Moordrecht, and Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel. ...

** Land boundaries: 1,027 km :: 577 km :: 450 km :* Coastline:

451 km * Population of the Netherlands: 17,000,002 * Area of the Netherlands: 41,526 km² / 16,033 sq mi ** Water: 18.41% * Atlas of the Netherlands

Environment of the Netherlands

Environment of the Netherlands __NOTOC__ Environment of the Netherlands The Netherlands had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 0.6/10, ranking it 169th globally out of 172 countries. Biota * List of birds of the Netherlands * List of extinct animals of t ...

* Climate of the Netherlands *

Renewable energy in the Netherlands Despite the historic usage of wind power to drain water and grind grain, the Netherlands today lags 21 of the 26 other member states of the European Union in the consumption of energy from renewable sources. In 2022, the Netherlands consumed ju ...

Geology of the Netherlands The geology of the Netherlands describes the geological sequence of the Netherlands. Large parts of the Netherlands today are below sea level and have in the past been covered by the sea or flooded at regular intervals. The modern Netherlands fo ...

* Protected areas of the Netherlands ** Biosphere reserves in the Netherlands **

National parks of the Netherlands In the 1960s, national parks in the Netherlands were defined as areas of at least consisting of natural terrains, water and/or forests, with a special landscape and flora and fauna. The first two national parks were founded in the 1930s by pri ...

* Wildlife of the Netherlands **

Fauna of the Netherlands Fauna of the Netherlands may refer to: * List of birds of the Netherlands * List of mammals of the Netherlands This list shows the IUCN Red List status of the 77 mammal species occurring in the Netherlands. Two are endangered, two are vulnerable ...

*** Birds of the Netherlands *** Mammals of the Netherlands

Natural geographic features of the Netherlands

* Islands of the Netherlands *

Lakes of the Netherlands The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency published a map of surface water bodies in the Netherlands in 2010. The map distinguishes over 20 different types of water bodies, including those with salty, brackish and fresh water. These water bo ...

Rivers of the Netherlands These are the main rivers of the Netherlands. All of the Netherlands is drained into the North Sea, partly via the IJsselmeer lake. In the list below, rivers that flow into the sea are sorted following the North Sea coast (including IJsselmeer) fr ...

World Heritage Sites in the Netherlands The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

Regions of the Netherlands

Regions of the Netherlands The regions of the Netherlands provides links to both regions and subregions of the Netherlands. Regions The regions of the Netherlands are divided into the North, South, West and East Netherlands. Official regions Many regions in the Netherl ...

Administrative divisions of the Netherlands

Administrative divisions of the Netherlands *

Provinces of the Netherlands There are twelve provinces ( or ; Grammatical number#Overview, sing. ) of the Netherlands representing the administrative layer between the cabinet of the Netherlands, national government and the municipalities of the Netherlands, local ...

Municipalities of the Netherlands Since 1 January 2023, there have been 342 regular municipalities ( ; Grammatical number#Overview, sing. ) and three Caribbean Netherlands, special municipalities ( ) in the Netherlands. The latter is the status of three of the six isla ...

=Provinces of the Netherlands

=Municipalities of the Netherlands

Capital of the Netherlands In the Netherlands, the Constitution of the Netherlands, Constitution refers to Amsterdam as the capital city. However, since 1588, the States General of the Netherlands, States General and the Cabinet of the Netherlands, Executive Branch, along ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, though the seat of government is in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Cities of the Netherlands There are no formal rules in the Netherlands to distinguish cities from other settlements. Smaller settlements are usually called , comparable with villages in English speaking countries. The Dutch word for city is (plural: ). The intermediate c ...

Demography of the Netherlands

Demographics of the Netherlands Demography, Demographic features of the population of the Netherlands include population density, Ethnic group, ethnicity, education level, health of the population, economic status, Religion in the Netherlands, religious affiliations and other ...

Dutch people The Dutch, or Netherlanders (Dutch language, Dutch: ) are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common ancestry and culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities wor ...

* Ethnic minorities in the Netherlands

Government and politics of the Netherlands

Form of government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a m ...

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

. Note that the seat of government is in

Elections in the Netherlands Elections in the Netherlands are held for five territorial levels of government: the European Union, the state, the twelve provinces, the 21 water boards and the 342 municipalities (and the three public bodies in the Caribbean Netherlands). Ap ...

** European Parliament election, 2024 ** Dutch general election, 2023 ** Dutch Senate election, 2023 ** Dutch provincial elections, 2023 ** Dutch water board elections, 2023 **

Dutch municipal elections, 2022 Municipal elections were held on 16 March 2022 in 333 municipalities in the Netherlands. This election determined the composition of the municipal councils for the following four years. Background In the previous municipal elections, local p ...

Political parties in the Netherlands This article lists Political party, political parties in the Netherlands. The country has a multi-party system with numerous political parties, and any one party has little chance of gaining power alone; parties work with each other to form coa ...

Taxation in the Netherlands Taxation in the Netherlands is defined by the income tax (Wet op de inkomstenbelasting 2001), the Withholding tax, wage withholding tax (:nl:Wet op de loonbelasting 1964, Wet op de loonbelasting 1964), the value added tax (:nl:Wet op de omzetbel ...

Branches of government of the Netherlands

Government of the Netherlands The Netherlands is a Parliamentary system, parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a Decentralization, decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. ...

Executive branch of the government of the Netherlands

Head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

Head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

Prime Minister of the Netherlands The prime minister of the Netherlands () or, before 1945, the chairman of the Council of Ministers () is the ''de facto'' head of government of the Netherlands.''Grondwet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden'' onstitution of the Kingdom of the N ...

Cabinet of the Netherlands The cabinet of the Netherlands () is the main executive body of the Netherlands. The current cabinet of the Netherlands is the Schoof cabinet, which has been in power since 2 July 2024. It is headed by Prime Minister Dick Schoof. Composition an ...

: List of cabinets of the Netherlands

Legislative branch of the government of the Netherlands

* Parliament of the Netherlands: States General (

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

) **

Upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

Senate of the Netherlands The Senate ( , literally "First Chamber of the States General", or simply ; sometimes ) is the upper house of the States General, the legislature of the Netherlands. Its 75 members are elected on lists by the members of the twelve States-Provi ...

Lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

House of Representatives of the Netherlands The House of Representatives ( , literally "Second Chamber of the States General", or simply ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General of the Netherlands, States General, the other one ...

Judicial branch of the government of the Netherlands

Court system of the Netherlands *

Supreme Court of the Netherlands The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ( or simply ''Hoge Raad''), officially the High Council of the Netherlands, is the final court of appeal in civil, criminal and tax cases in the Netherlands, including Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Aruba. Th ...

Foreign relations of the Netherlands

Foreign relations of the Netherlands The foreign policy of the Netherlands is based on four basic commitments: to the Atlanticism, Atlantic cooperation, to European integration, to international development and to international law. While historically the Kingdom of the Netherlands w ...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (; BZ) is the Netherlands' ministry responsible for foreign relations, foreign policy, international development, international trade, diaspora and matters dealing with the European Union, NATO and the Benelux Uni ...

* Diplomatic missions in the Netherlands *

Diplomatic missions of the Netherlands This is a list of diplomatic missions of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, excluding honorary consulates. Ambassador of the Netherlands are officially known as His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, with their Diplomatic Mission ...

International organization membership of the Netherlands

International organization membership of the Netherlands * Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) *

World Veterans Federation The World Veterans Federation (WVF) is the world's largest international veteran organisation. The federation consists of 172 veterans organizations from 121 countries representing some 60 million veterans worldwide. It is a humanitarian organisa ...

Economic Affairs and Finance of the Netherlands

Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands The Ministry of Economic Affairs (; EZ) is the Netherlands' ministry responsible for international trade, commercial, industrial, investment, technology, space policy, as well as tourism. The Ministry was created in 1905 as the Ministry of Ag ...

* Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands

Law and order in the Netherlands

Law of the Netherlands The Netherlands uses civil law. The role of case law is small in theory, although, in practice, it is impossible to understand the law in many fields without considering the relevant case law. The Dutch law system is based on the French Civil Co ...

* Ministry of Security and Justice of the Netherlands * Capital punishment in the Netherlands *

Constitution of the Netherlands The Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands of 24 August 1815 () is one of two fundamental documents governing the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well as the Constitution, fundamental law of the Netherlands, Netherlands proper (the territo ...

* Human rights in the Netherlands **

LGBT rights in the Netherlands Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in the Netherlands are among the most advanced in the world. Same-sex sexual activity was legalized in 1811 after France invaded the country and installed the Napoleonic Code, erasi ...

***

Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands Same-sex marriage has been legal in the Netherlands since 1 April 2001. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriage was passed in the House of Representatives by 109 votes to 33 on 12 September 2000 and by the Senate by 49 votes to 26 on 19 ...

Religion in the Netherlands Religion in the Netherlands was dominated by Christianity between the 10th and 20th centuries. In the late 19th century, roughly 60% of the population was Calvinist and 35% was Catholic. Also, until the Holocaust, there was a noticeable Jewish ...

Euthanasia in the Netherlands Euthanasia in the Netherlands is regulated by the "Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act" which was passed and took in effect in 2002. It states that euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are not punishab ...

Abortion in the Netherlands Abortion in the Netherlands was fully legalized on 1 November 1984, allowing elective abortion up to the 24th week of the pregnancy. Abortion for "serious medical reasons" can be performed after 24 weeks. There used to be a mandatory five-day wa ...

Law enforcement in the Netherlands The National Police Corps (), colloquially in English as Dutch National Police or National Police Force, is the centralised, national law enforcement agency of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and its sole police force. Constituted under the prov ...

Prostitution in the Netherlands Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and regulated. Operating a brothel is also legal. '' De Wallen'', the largest and best-known Red-light district in Amsterdam, is a destination for international sex tourism. History Toleration du ...

Drug policy of the Netherlands While recreational use, possession and trade of non-medicinal drugs described by the Opium Law are all technically illegal under Dutch law, official policy since the late 20th century has been to openly tolerate all recreational use wh ...

*** Gedogen (toleration of certain illegal practices for the greater good)

Military of the Netherlands

Military of the Netherlands The Netherlands Armed Forces () are the 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 Navy (), the ...

* Command ** Commander-in-chief:

the Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

** Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands ** Chief of the Netherlands Defence Staff *

Forces In physics, a force is an influence that can cause an object to change its velocity unless counterbalanced by other forces. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the magnitude and directi ...

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 ...

***

Korps Commandotroepen The (KCT) () is the elite special forces unit of the Royal Netherlands Army. The KCT traces its origins to the Second World War with the founding of No. 2 (Dutch) Troop, and the founding of the during the Indonesian War of Independence. At pre ...

(special forces

commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...

) **

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 ...

***

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

(special forces

marines Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included Raid (military), raiding ashor ...

) **

Royal Netherlands Air Force The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF; , "Royal Air Force") is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was created in 1953 to succeed its predecessor, the ''Luchtvaartafdeling'' () of the Dutch Army, which was founded ...

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 ...

(

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...

) *

Military history of the Netherlands The Netherlands, as a nation state, dates to 1568, when the Dutch Revolt created the Dutch Empire. Previously, the Germanic tribes had no written language during the Migration Period, ancient and Early Middle Ages, early medieval periods, so what ...

Military ranks of the Dutch armed forces The Military ranks of the Netherlands Armed Forces are the military insignia used by the Netherlands Armed Forces. Current ranks ;Officer ranks ;Enlisted ranks The Dutch titles for privates are: Cadet ranks at the Royal Military Academy ...

Local government in the Netherlands

Politics in the Netherlands The Netherlands is a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekke, Frits M. Meer, Edward E ...

Provincial politics in the Netherlands Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

Water board A water board is a regional or national organisation that has very different functions from one country to another. The functions range from flood control and water resources management at the regional or local level (the Netherlands, Germany), ...

Municipal politics in the Netherlands Municipal politics in the Netherlands is an important aspect of the politics of the Netherlands. The municipality is the lowest level of government, but this does not reflect the importance that the Amsterdam and Rotterdam governments play in Du ...

History of the Netherlands

Culture of the Netherlands

Culture of the Netherlands The culture of the Netherlands is diverse, reflecting regional differences as well as the foreign influences built up by centuries of the Dutch people's mercantile and explorative spirit. The Netherlands and its people have long played an im ...

Architecture of the Netherlands Dutch architecture has played an important role in the international discourse on architecture in three eras. The first of these was during the 17th century, when the Dutch empire was at the height of its power. The second was in the first hal ...

Dutch Baroque architecture Dutch Baroque architecture is a variety of Baroque architecture that flourished in the Dutch Republic and its colonies during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century. (Dutch painting during the period is covered by Dutch Golden Age painting). ...

** Dutch Colonial architecture **

Dutch Colonial Revival architecture Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house. Modern versions built in the early 20th century are more accurately referred to as "Dutch Colonial Re ...

Cannabis in the Netherlands Cannabis in the Netherlands is illegal, but is decriminalised for personal use. Recreational consumption of the drug is tolerated, and it is available in coffeeshops. Prohibition Cannabis was first criminalised in the Netherlands in 1953, fo ...

Cuisine of the Netherlands Dutch cuisine is formed from the cooking traditions and practices of the Netherlands. The country's cuisine is shaped by its location on the fertile Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta at the North Sea, giving rise to fishing, farming, and overseas tra ...

* Ethnic minorities in the Netherlands *

Festivals in the Netherlands This is a list of music festivals in the Netherlands. It includes current and past notable festivals. In 2022, there were 10% more festivals and 4% more visitors than in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic started. A total of 19.2 million visitors i ...

** Music festivals in the Netherlands (category) **

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

Languages of the Netherlands The predominant language of the Netherlands is Dutch, spoken and written by almost all people in the Netherlands. Dutch is also spoken and official in the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the Caribbean Netherlands special mun ...

* Media in the Netherlands *

National symbols of the Netherlands Symbols of the Netherlands are items or symbols that have symbolic meaning to, or represent, the Netherlands. These symbols are seen in official capacities, such as flags, coats of arms, postage stamps, and currency, and in URLs. They appear less ...

Coat of arms of the Netherlands The coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was originally adopted in 1815 and later modified in 1907. The arms are a composite of the arms of the former Dutch Republic and the arms of the House of Nassau, it features a checkered shield wit ...

Flag of the Netherlands The national flag of the Netherlands () is a horizontal tricolour (flag), tricolour of red, white, and blue. The current design originates as a variant of the late 16th century orange-white-blue ''Prince's Flag, Prinsenvlag'' ("Prince's Fla ...

** National anthem of the Netherlands *

Public holidays in the Netherlands The national holidays in the Netherlands are: While there are other holidays that are widely celebrated, these are not officially recognised national holidays. They are as follows: * While Saint Nicholas's Eve (the eve of Sinterklaas, also cal ...

* Records of the Netherlands *

Buddhism in the Netherlands Buddhism is a small minority religion in the Netherlands. In 1971, there were 900 Buddhists in the Netherlands. A 2007 report by the Netherlands Institute for Social Research estimated there were 17,000 Buddhists in the Netherlands. In 2015, B ...

** Christianity in the Netherlands **

Hinduism in the Netherlands Hinduism is the third largest religious group in the Netherlands, after Christianity and Islam in the Netherlands, Islam; representing about 1.0% of the Dutch population in 2019. After Hinduism in the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom and Hindu ...

Islam in the Netherlands Islam is the second largest religion in the Netherlands, after Christianity, and is practised by 6% of the population according to 2023. estimates. The majority of Muslims in the Netherlands belong to the Sunni denomination. Many reside in the ...

** Judaism in the Netherlands ** Sikhism in the Netherlands *

Arts in the Netherlands

* Art in the Netherlands *

Cinema of the Netherlands Cinema of the Netherlands refers to the film industry based in the Netherlands. Because the Dutch film industry is relatively small, and there is little or no international market for Dutch films, almost all films rely on state funding. This ...

* Literature of the Netherlands *

Music of the Netherlands The Netherlands has multiple musical traditions. Contemporary Dutch popular music is heavily influenced by music styles that emerged in the 1950s, in the United Kingdom and United States. The style is sung in both Dutch and English. Some of the ...

Television in the Netherlands Television in the Netherlands was officially introduced in 1951. In the Netherlands, the television market is divided between a number of commercial networks, such as RTL Nederland, and a system of public broadcasters sharing three channels, NPO ...

Theatre in the Netherlands Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicat ...

Sports in the Netherlands

Sports in the Netherlands *

Football in the Netherlands Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. Association football, Football was introduced to the Netherlands by Pim Mulier in the 19th century when in 1879, at the age of 14, he founded Koninklijke HFC, Haarlemsche Football Club. Ov ...

Economy and infrastructure of the Netherlands

Economy of the Netherlands The economy of the Netherlands is a highly developed market economy focused on trade and logistics, manufacturing, services, innovation and technology and sustainable and renewable energy. It is the world's 18th largest economy by nomin ...

* Economic rank, by nominal GDP (2007): 16th (sixteenth) *

Agriculture in the Netherlands , informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; i ...

* Banking in the Netherlands ** National Bank of the Netherlands *

Communications in the Netherlands This article is intended to give an overview of telecommunications in the Netherlands. Mail The postal service in the Netherlands is performed by PostNL in most cases—which has, as of 2008, a monopoly on letters lighter than 50 g.

Internet in the Netherlands According to research done by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Netherlands is ranked with Switzerland in having the most broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, has no bandwidth caps, and has the most h ...

Companies of the Netherlands A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

* Currency of the Netherlands:

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 ...

(see also: Euro topics) **

ISO 4217 ISO 4217 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines alpha codes and numeric codes for the representation of currencies and provides information about the relationships between individ ...

EUR The euro (symbol: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone. The euro is divided into 10 ...

Energy in the Netherlands Energy in the Netherlands describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in the Netherlands. Electricity sector in the Netherlands is the main article of electricity in the Netherlands. In 2020 the Netherlands was reliant ...

** Energy policy of the Netherlands ** Oil industry in the Netherlands * Health care in the Netherlands * Mining in the Netherlands *

Amsterdam Stock Exchange Euronext Amsterdam is a stock exchange based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (), it merged on 22 September 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. The ...

AEX index The AEX index, derived from Amsterdam Exchange index, is a stock market index composed of Dutch companies that trade on Euronext Amsterdam, formerly known as the ''Amsterdam Stock Exchange''. Started in 1983, the index is composed of a maximum ...

Tourism in the Netherlands Tourism in the Netherlands is a relatively small sector of the country's economy with a total contribution of 5.4% to gross domestic product and 9.6% to employment. In 2017 the Netherlands was visited by 17 million foreign tourists (with more t ...

Transport in the Netherlands The Netherlands is both a very densely populated and a highly developed country in which transport is a key factor of the economy. Correspondingly it has a very dense and modern infrastructure, facilitating transport with road, rail, air and ...

Airports in the Netherlands This is a list of airports in the Netherlands, grouped by type and sorted by location. The largest airport by far is Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, which is the third largest in Europe. Smaller airports with scheduled passenger service are Rotterda ...

Cycling in the Netherlands Cycling is the second-most common mode of transport in the Netherlands, with 36% of Dutch people listing the bicycle as their most frequent way of getting around on a typical day, as opposed to the car (45%) and public transport (11%). Cycling ...

Rail transport in the Netherlands Rail transport in the Netherlands uses a dense railway network which connects nearly all major towns and cities. There are more train stations than there are municipalities in the Netherlands . The network totals on of track; a line may run b ...

Road transport in the Netherlands With 139,000 km of public roads, the Netherlands has one of the most dense road networks in the world – much denser than Germany and France, but still not as dense as Belgium. In 2013, 5,191 km were national roads, 7,778 km wer ...

Roads in the Netherlands The Netherlands has a public road network totaling 139,000 km, one of the densest in the world. Its use has increased since the 1950s and now exceeds 200 billion km traveled per year, three quarters of which is by car, making it among the mos ...

Water supply and sanitation in the Netherlands Water supply and sanitation in the Netherlands is provided in good quality and at a reasonable price to the entire population. Water consumption is one of the lowest in developed countries at 129 litres per capita per day and water leakage in t ...

Education in the Netherlands

Education in the Netherlands Education in the Netherlands is characterized by division: education is oriented toward the needs and background of the pupil. Education is divided over schools for different age groups, some of which are divided in streams for different educatio ...

References

External links

About the Netherlands -- Dutch Ministry of Foreign AffairsOverheid.nl
- official Dutch government portal
Government.nl
- official Dutch government web site *
CIA - The World Factbook -- Netherlands
- Key figures from the Dutch bureau of statistics *
Local news and features on the Netherlands
''Expatica''
Holland.com
- English website of the Netherlands tourist office {{DEFAULTSORT:Netherlands

*Outline Outlines

General reference

Geography of the Netherlands

Environment of the Netherlands

Natural geographic features of the Netherlands

Regions of the Netherlands

Administrative divisions of the Netherlands

=Provinces of the Netherlands

=Municipalities of the Netherlands

Demography of the Netherlands

Government and politics of the Netherlands

Branches of government of the Netherlands

Executive branch of the government of the Netherlands

Legislative branch of the government of the Netherlands

Judicial branch of the government of the Netherlands

Foreign relations of the Netherlands

International organization membership of the Netherlands

Economic Affairs and Finance of the Netherlands

Law and order in the Netherlands

Military of the Netherlands

Local government in the Netherlands

History of the Netherlands

Culture of the Netherlands

Arts in the Netherlands

Sports in the Netherlands

Economy and infrastructure of the Netherlands

Education in the Netherlands

See also

References

External links