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Kingdom of the Netherlands
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Form of government
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Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy
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Head of state
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Queen Beatrix
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Administrative regions
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12 provinces; Drenthe, Flevoland, Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, Noord-Brabant, Noord-Holland, Overijssel, Utrecht, Zeeland, Zuid-Holland.
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Dependencies
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Aruba, Netherlands Antilles
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Currency
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Euro
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Location
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Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between Belgium and Germany
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Capital
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Amsterdam
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Largest cities
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Amsterdam: 743,393 inhabitants
Rotterdam: 599,859 inhabitants
The Hague: 472,087 inhabitants
Utrecht: 281 011 inhabitants
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Area
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Total: 41,526 square kilometres
Land: 33,883 square kilometres
Water: 7,643 square kilometres
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Land boundaries
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Total: 1,027 kilometres
Belgium: 450 kilometres, Germany: 577 kilometres
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Coastline
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451 kilometres
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Climate
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Temperate; maritime; cool summers and mild winters
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Terrain
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Mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (polders)
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Elevation extremes
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Lowest point: Zuidvlaspolder - 7 m below sea level
Highest point: Vaalserberg - 322 m above sea level
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Natural resources
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Natural gas; petroleum; peat; limestone; salt; sand and gravel; arable land
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Population
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16,410,046 (March 2008)
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Age structure
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0 - 20 years: 24.2%
20 – 45 years: 34.4%
45 – 65 years: 26.9%
65 – 80 years: 10.8%
80-years and older: 3.7%
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Population growth rate
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0.28% (46,000 people)(2007)
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Migration balance (immigration minus emigration)
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Minus 32,000 (2006)
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Ethnic groups
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Dutch: 81%, other: 19% (of which 10% are non-Western origin; mainly Turks, Moroccans, Antilleans, Surinamese and Indonesians (2007)
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Religions
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Roman Catholic: 31%, Dutch Reformed: 13%, Calvinist: 7%, Muslim: 5.5%, other: 2.5%, none: 41% (2002)
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Languages
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Dutch (official), Frisian (official)
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Economy
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GDP
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560 billion euro (2007)
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GDP per capita
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Purchasing power parity:
$37,300 (2006)
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Economic growth
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3.5% (2007)
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Working population
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7,606 million (2007)
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Unemployed
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344.000 (4.5%) (2007)
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European economic growth
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2.6% (2007)
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Inflation rate
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1.6 (2007)
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Inflation rate Euro zone
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2.1% (2007)
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International trade
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Exports: 420 billion euro (2007) (goods and services)
Imports: 377 billion euro (2007) (goods and services)
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Export commodities
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Machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs
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Import commodities
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Machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs, clothing
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Export partners
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Germany 24.8%; Belgium 12.5%; UK 8.9%; France 8.2%; Italy 5.0%; US 5.0% (2006)
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Import partners
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Germany: 19.4%; Belgium: 10.9%; US: 8.3%; China: 8.1%; UK: 6.2%; France: 5.0% (2006)
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From: Statistics Netherlands (CBS)
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print
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