Netherlands

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Country summary

Capital

Amsterdam

Borders

Belgium 450 km, Germany 577 km

Government type

constitutional monarchy

Population

16,715,999 (July 2010 est.)[1]

Population growth

0.412% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

79.4 years[1]

Unemployment

4.9% (2009 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

15[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

6[3]

Doing Business ranking

30[4]


The Dutch United Provinces declared their independence from Spain in 1579; during the 17th century, they became a leading seafaring and commercial power, with settlements and colonies around the world. After a 20-year French occupation, a Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed in 1815. In 1830 Belgium seceded and formed a separate kingdom. The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I, but suffered invasion and occupation by Germany in World War II. A modern, industrialized nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products. The country was a founding member of NATO and the EEC (now the EU), and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999.[1]

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
  • Central bank discount rate: 3% (3 May 2009)[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: 10.01% (31 December 2009)[1]
  • is part of the Eurozone

Notable events:

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[7] 411 456 385 075 400 654 437 807 538 313 609 863 638 487 677 367 776 122 871 004
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[8] 58.224 52.066 48.302 49.318 51.142 52.144 51.486 45.612 43.369
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[9] 40.826 40.688 39.775 38.914 38.647 38.941 39.264 41.228 40.768
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[10] 40.460 39.262 39.682 40.079 41.118 40.368 39.268 40.495 40.285
Debt to revenue (years) 1.426 1.280 1.214 1.267 1.323 1.339 1.311 1.106 1.064

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 CIA - The World Factbook. "Netherlands", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  2. Heritage Foundation. "Netherlands", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  3. Transparency International. "Netherlands", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  4. Doing Business. "Netherlands", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  5. Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 375. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-21.
  6. Carmen M. Reinhart. "This Time is Different Chartbook: Country Histories on Debt, Default, and Financial Crises" (pdf), March 3, 2010, p. 79. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-21.
  7. World Bank. "Netherlands: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  8. World Bank. "Netherlands: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  9. World Bank. "Netherlands: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  10. World Bank. "Netherlands: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.

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