The Netherlands is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which is formed by the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba. The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy, located in northwestern Europe. It is bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east. The current borders were established in 1839.
The Netherlands is often referred to by the name Holland. This is not terminologically precise, since the provinces of North and South Holland in the western Netherlands are only two of the country's twelve provinces (for more on this and other naming issues see Netherlands (terminology)). It is also sometimes known as the Low Countries, which is the meaning of the original Dutch title Nederlanden. The Dutch title has now changed to Nederland, the Low Country, but this version has not been adopted in the English language.
The Netherlands is a densely populated and geographically low-lying country (its name literally means "low countries" or "low lands") and is popularly known for its windmills, cheese, clogs (wooden shoes), dikes, tulips, bicycles and social tolerance. Its policies are liberal towards drugs, prostitution, same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia. The country is host to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
'(The) Netherlands' is the official name of the European part of the 'Kingdom of the Netherlands' (as opposed to overseas areas). The term 'Holland' is commonly used as a synonym for the Netherlands, but it actually only refers to a region in the west of the country, which has long been the most economically powerful part of the country. The prominence of this region meant that the whole country is often referred to as 'Holland' all over the world. The country's people and language are called Dutch.
A remarkable aspect of the Netherlands is the flatness of the country. Hilly landscapes can be found only in the central part, the south-eastern tip of the country and where the glaciers pushed up several hilly ridges such as the Hondsrug in Drenthe, the stuwwallen near Nijmegen, Salland, Twente and the Utrechtse Heuvelrug.
At this moment the Netherlands is the 16th largest economy of the world, and 10th on the list of GDP (nominal) per capita. (see: List of countries by GDP (nominal), and List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita). Between 1998 and 2000 annual economic growth (GDP) averaged nearly 4%, well above the European average. Growth slowed considerably in 2001-05 as part of the global economic slowdown, but the first quarter of 2006 showed promising growth of 2.6%. Inflation is 1.3% and is expected to stay low at around 1.5% in the coming years. The CBS however has claimed the inflation is at 0.9%, the lowest since 1989. According to the definition used by the Dutch Statistics Agency CBS, unemployment is at 5.5% of the labour
force By Eurostat standards however, unemployment in the Netherlands is at only 3.8% - the lowest rate of all European Union member states (figures: June 2006). The Netherlands also has a relatively low GINI coefficient of 0.326.
The official language is Dutch, which is spoken by a large majority of the inhabitants, the exception being some groups of immigrants. Another official language is Frisian, which is spoken in the northern province of Fryslân. Frisian is co-official only in the province of Fryslân, although with a few restrictions. Several dialects of Low Saxon (Nedersaksisch in Dutch) are spoken in much of the north and east and are recognised by the Netherlands as regional languages according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. There is a tradition of learning foreign languages in the Netherlands: about 85% of the total population has basic knowledge of English, 55–60% of German and 25% of
French. Courses in Spanish, Arabic, Ancient Greek, and Latin are offered in schools as well.
