Foreign companies in the Netherlands - company profiles

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General Statistics on the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Government, geography and demography

 

Form of government Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy
Head of state Queen Beatrix
Administrative regions 12 provinces: Drenthe, Flevoland, Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, Noord-Brabant, Noord-Holland, Overijssel, Utrecht, Zeeland, Zuid-Holland
Dependencies Aruba, Netherlands Antilles
Currency Euro
Location Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between Belgium and Germany
Capital Amsterdam
Largest cities Amsterdam: 743,393 inhabitants
  Rotterdam: 599,859 inhabitants
  The Hague: 472,087 inhabitants
  Utrecht: 300,000 inhabitants
Area Total: 41,526 square kilometres
  Land: 33,883 square kilometres
  Water: 7,643 square kilometres
Land boundaries Total: 1,027 kilometres
  Belgium: 450 kilometres, Germany: 577 kilometres
Coastline 451 kilometres
Climate Temperate; maritime; cool summers and mild winters
Terrain Mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (polders)
Elevation extremes Lowest point: Zuidvlaspolder - 7 m below sea level
  Highest point: Vaalserberg - 322 m above sea level
Natural resources Natural gas; petroleum; peat; limestone; salt; sand and gravel; arable land
Population 16,486,587 (February 2009)
Age structure 0 - 20 years: 23.9%
  20 - 45 years: 25.7%
  45 - 65 years: 35.5%
  65 - 80 years: 11.2%
  80-years and older: 3.8%
Population growth rate 0.49% (2009 est.)
Migration balance (immigration minus emigration) 26,842 (2008)
Ethnic groups Dutch: 80,4%, other: 19,6% (of which 10,8% are non-Western origin; mainly Turks, Moroccans, Antilleans, Surinamese and Indonesians (2008)
Religions Roman Catholic: 27%, Protestant: 16.6%, Muslim: 5.7%, other: 2.3%, none: 48.4% (2005)
Languages Dutch (official), Frisian (official)

 

Economic performance

 

GDP 670,2 billion euro (2008 est.)
GDP per capita Purchasing power parity:
  $40,300 (2008 est.)
Economic growth 2.1% (2008)
Working population 7,410 million (2008)
Unemployed 3.9% (2008)
European economic growth 0.63% (2008)
Inflation rate 2.5% (2007)
Inflation rate Euro zone 3.7% (2008)
International trade Exports: 537.5 billion euro (2008) (goods and services)
  Imports: 485.3 billion euro (2008) (goods and services)
Export commodities Machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs
Import commodities Machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs, clothing
Export partners Germany 24.4%; Belgium 13.6%; UK 9.1%; France 8.5%; Italy 5.1%; US 4.3% (2008)
Import partners Germany: 17.7%; Belgium: 9.3%; US: 7.3%; China: 10.5%; Russia: 5.15; UK: 5.8%; France: 4.4% (2008)

 

Source: Statistics Netherlands