The Netherlands in a nutshell
The Netherlands is famous for its cheese, windmills, tulips and Amsterdam of course. But the Netherlands is more than that. Here are some facts about this beautiful country.
|
Official name |
Kingdom of the Netherlands |
|
Form of government |
Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy |
|
Head of state |
His Majesty King Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau |
|
Capital |
Amsterdam |
|
Seat of government |
The Hague |
|
Administrative structure |
12 provinces and the overseas territories of Aruba, Curacao and St. Martin. The overseas islands of Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius, all 3 of which are situated in the Caribbean, are ‘special municipalities of the Netherlands’ |
|
Surface area |
33,800 km2 |
|
Location |
Western Europe, by the North Sea, bordering Belgium and Germany |
|
Number of inhabitants |
17,008,695 (May 2016) |
|
Number of inhabitants per km2 |
503 (May 2016) |
|
Monetary unit |
Euro |
|
Languages |
Dutch, Frisian |
The Netherlands or Holland?
The Netherlands and Holland, 2 terms that are often used when referring to that small country in Western Europe. But which one is it actually? The difference is that the Netherlands consists of all 12 provinces, and Holland is just the 2 provinces South-Holland and North-Holland combined. While the Netherlands is the country’s official name, you may call it however you want to. But for the sake of being consistent, we will call it the Netherlands from now on.
