Language

Official language
Dutch (95.6%)

Actual Languages
Fries (3.7%), Arabic (0.9%), Turkish (0.8%)

T-index
0.84%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

English
Very high proficiency (EF) – 1 of 112 countries/regions in the world- 1/34 position in Europe.

Demography

Capital: Amsterdam
Currency: Euro
Population: 17,53 million 
Population density: 518 /km2

Economy

GDP: 1.02 trillion USD (2021)
GDP per capita: 58,061.0 USD ‎(2020) ‎
Exports: $511 billion (2020)

Statistics

Internet users: 96% penetration, 16.50 million
Unemployment rate: 4.02% (2021)
Urbanisation: 77.38% (2019)
Literacy: 99% (2019)

Conventions

Numbering system
Arabic numerals and comma as decimal separator and space as thousands separator

Date format: dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 0031/ 00599

Economy

Imports
$524 billion (2020). Crude Petroleum ($32.1B), Refined Petroleum ($23.8B), Broadcasting Equipment ($21.9B), Computers ($14.7B), and Packaged Medicaments ($13.5B), importing mostly from Germany ($84.8B), China ($64.9B), United States ($42.7B), Belgium ($37.1B), and United Kingdom ($25.1B).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 100% have an account with a financial institution
• 39% have a credit card
• 85% make online purchases

Ease of doing business
It is very easy to conduct business (rated 76.1 out of 100) ranked 27th out of 34 OECD high income countries ranked 42nd out of 190 countries worldwide (2019, World Bank)

Exports
$511 billion (2020). Refined Petroleum ($29.7B), Broadcasting Equipment ($19.3B), Packaged Medicaments ($18.8B), Computers ($13.7B), and Photo Lab Equipment ($11.7B), exporting mostly to Germany ($105B), Belgium ($56.1B), France ($43.7B), United Kingdom ($40.3B), and United States ($23.9B)

Main local online stores
bol.com, Coolblue, Albert Heijn, Zalando, wehkamp, Amazon, Jumbo, MediaMarkt, H&M

Economic freedom
‘Mostly free’ (79.5 out of 100) ranked 5th out of 45 European countries ranked 8th out of 186 countries worldwide (2019, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal)

Global Innovation Index
Ranked 4th out of 39 European countries, 6th out of 132 worldwide.

The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation
ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

Media

Media language
Dutch, English

Information channels
The Dutch approach to public broadcasting is unique. Programmes are made by groups which reflect political or religious currents, or other interests. These organisations are allocated airtime on TV and radio, in line with the number of members they have. Public radio and TV face stiff competition from commercial stations. Viewers have access to a wide range of domestic and foreign channels, thanks mainly to one of the highest cable take-up rates in Europe. Every province has at least one local public TV channel. The three national public TV stations enjoy high audience shares. Freedom of the press is guaranteed by the constitution, as is free speech. Newspaper ownership is highly concentrated.

The press

Algemeen Dagblad – national, daily
NRC Handelsblad – national, daily
De Telegraaf – national, daily
De Volkskrant – national, daily
Trouw – national, daily
Het Parool – Amsterdam daily
Het Financieele Dagblad – financial daily
Elsevier – news weekly
Vrij Nederland – news weekly

Television

NOS – public broadcaster
BVN TV – public, for Dutch-speakers abroad
RTL – commercial, operates RTL4, RTL5, RTL7 and RTL8
SBS – commercial, operates SBS6, Net5 and Veronica

Radio

NOS – public radio, operates news and information station Radio 1, music network Radio 2, pop station 3FM, cultural station Radio
Sky Radio – popular commercial FM station, continuous music
Radio 538 – popular commercial FM station, pop and dance music
BNR Nieuwsradio – commercial, new

News agency

Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANP) – news agency
RNW Media – former international radio, now a public multimedia NGO
DutchNews.nl – news in English

Social statistics

Life expectancy
81.56 yrs (2020)

Average age of the population
43.3 yrs (2020)

Cultural Curiosities
Communication in both business and social settings tends to be very warm and expressive. Establishing a cordial relationship and gaining the trust of your business counterpart is very important.

Glass Ceiling Index
52.8 out 100, ranked 25nd out of 29 countries.

The glass-ceiling index measures the environment for working women combining data on higher education, labor-force participation, pay, child-care costs, maternity and paternity rights, business-school applications, and representation in senior jobs.

Healthcare expenditure
13% of GDP (2018)

Average age of the population
45.7 yrs (2020)

Literacy
99% (2018)

Urbanisation
91.49% (2018)

Graduates (tertiary education)
Overall, 38% of Dutch adults (25-64 year-olds) have a tertiary education, similar to the OECD average of 39%. However, tertiary educational attainment among younger adults has increased in the Netherlands in the past decade, and the share of 25-34 year-olds with tertiary education increased by 8 percentage points between 2008 and 2018 to 48%, above the OECD average of 44% (2019)