International Trade Of The Netherlands

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overnment and education in the former colony of Suriname and in Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles, which are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In Indonesia, many lawyers and historians speak Dutch owing to historical ties. Afrikaans, which is spoken in South Africa, is an offshoot of Dutch. Dutch has also influenced other languages, especially in shipping, waterworks and agriculture.

Facts & Figures

Geography
Location: Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between Belgium and Germany
Area: total: 41,526 sq km
water: 7,643 sq km
land: 33,883 sq km
Land boundaries: total: 1,027 km
border countries: Belgium 450 km, Germany 577 km
Coastline: 451 km
Climate: temperate; marine; cool summers and mild winters
Terrain: mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (polders); some hills in southeast
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Zuidplaspolder -7 m
highest point: Vaalserberg 322 m
Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, peat, limestone, salt, sand and gravel, arable land
Natural hazards: flooding
Environment - current issues: water pollution in the form of heavy metals, organic compounds, and nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates; air pollution from vehicles and refining activities; acid rain
Geography - note: located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine, Maas, and Schelde)

People
Population: 16,318,199 (July 2004 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 18.3% (male 1,527,316; female 1,457,192)
15-64 years: 67.8% (male 5,598,706; female 5,459,936)
65 years and over: 13.9% (male 953,370; female 1,321,679) (2004 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.57% (2004 est.)
Ethnic groups: Dutch 83%, other 17% (of which 9% are non-Western origin mainly Turks, Moroccans, Antilleans, Surinamese and Indonesians) (1999 est.)
Religions: Roman Catholic 31%, Protestant 21%, Muslim 4.4%, other 3.6%, unaffiliated 40% (1998)
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population...