Government & Daily life
Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands since October 2010.
Capital and largest city: Amsterdam
Official languages: Dutch
Recognised regional languages: West Frisian, Limburgish, Dutch Low Saxon, English, Papiamento
Ethnic groups:
78.6% Dutch
5.9% other EU
2.4% Turks
2.2% Indonesians
2.2% Moroccans
2.1% Surinamese
0.9% Caribbean
5.7% others
Demonym: Dutch
Sovereign state: Kingdom of the Netherlands
Government: Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
- Monarch Willem-Alexander
- Prime Minister Mark Rutte
Legislature: States General
- Upper house Senate
- Lower House of Representatives
Independence from Spain:
- Proclaimed 26 July 1581
- Recognised 30 January 1648
- Kingdom established 16 March 1815
- Constituent country 15 December 1954
Currency:
Euro (EUR)
US dollar (USD)[d]
Time zone: CET (UTC+1)[e]
AST (UTC-4)
- Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
AST (UTC-4)
Date format: dd-mm-yyyy
Drives on the right
Calling code: +31
+599
Daily Life
Transport
Mobility on Dutch roads has grown continuously since the 1950s and now exceeds 200 billion km travelled per year, three quarters of which are done by car. Around half of all trips in the Netherlands are made by car, 25% by bicycle, 20% walking, and 5% by public transport. With a total road network of 139,295 km, which includes 2,758 km of expressways, the Netherlands has one of the densest road networks in the world — much denser than Germany and France, but still not as dense as Belgium.
About 13% of all distance is travelled by public transport, the majority of which by train. Like in many other European countries, the Dutch rail network of 3,013 route km is also rather dense. The network is mostly focused on passenger rail services and connects virtually all major towns and cities. Trains are frequent, with one or two trains per hour on lesser lines, two to four trains per hour on average, and up to eight trains an hour on the busiest lines.
A fiets street (bike street) where cyclists have priority and cars are "guests" and must yield.
Cycling is a ubiquitous mode of transport in the Netherlands. Almost as many kilometres are covered by bicycle as by train. The Dutch are estimated to have at least 18 million bicycles, which makes more than one per capita, and twice as many as the ca. 9 million motor vehicles on the road. In 2013, the European Cyclists' Federation ranked both the Netherlands and Denmark as the most bike-friendly countries in Europe, but more of the Dutch (31%) than of the Danes (19%) list the bike as their main mode of transport for daily activities. Cycling infrastructure is comprehensive. Busy roads have received some 35,000 km of dedicated cycle tracks, physically segregated from motorised traffic. Busy junctions are often equipped with bicycle-specific traffic lights. There are large bicycle parking facilities, particularly in city centres and at train stations.
Rotterdam has the largest port in Europe, with the rivers Meuse and Rhine providing excellent access to the hinterland upstream reaching to Basel, Switzerland, and into France. As of 2013, Rotterdam was the world's eighth largest container port handling 440.5 million metric tonnes of cargo annually. The port's main activities are petrochemical industries and general cargo handling and transshipment. The harbour functions as an important transit point for bulk materials and between the European continent and overseas. From Rotterdam goods are transported by ship, river barge, train or road. In 2007, the Betuweroute, a new fast freight railway from Rotterdam to Germany, was completed.
Schiphol airport, just southwest of Amsterdam, is the main international airport in the Netherlands, and the fourth busiest airport in Europe in terms of passengers.
As part of its commitment to environmental sustainability, the Dutch government initiated a plan to establish over 200 recharging stations for electric vehicles across the country by 2015. The rollout will be undertaken by Switzerland-based power and automation company ABB and Dutch startup Fastened, and will aim to provide at least one station within a 50-kilometre radius (30 miles) from every home in the Netherlands.
Mobility on Dutch roads has grown continuously since the 1950s and now exceeds 200 billion km travelled per year, three quarters of which are done by car. Around half of all trips in the Netherlands are made by car, 25% by bicycle, 20% walking, and 5% by public transport. With a total road network of 139,295 km, which includes 2,758 km of expressways, the Netherlands has one of the densest road networks in the world — much denser than Germany and France, but still not as dense as Belgium.
About 13% of all distance is travelled by public transport, the majority of which by train. Like in many other European countries, the Dutch rail network of 3,013 route km is also rather dense. The network is mostly focused on passenger rail services and connects virtually all major towns and cities. Trains are frequent, with one or two trains per hour on lesser lines, two to four trains per hour on average, and up to eight trains an hour on the busiest lines.
A fiets street (bike street) where cyclists have priority and cars are "guests" and must yield.
Cycling is a ubiquitous mode of transport in the Netherlands. Almost as many kilometres are covered by bicycle as by train. The Dutch are estimated to have at least 18 million bicycles, which makes more than one per capita, and twice as many as the ca. 9 million motor vehicles on the road. In 2013, the European Cyclists' Federation ranked both the Netherlands and Denmark as the most bike-friendly countries in Europe, but more of the Dutch (31%) than of the Danes (19%) list the bike as their main mode of transport for daily activities. Cycling infrastructure is comprehensive. Busy roads have received some 35,000 km of dedicated cycle tracks, physically segregated from motorised traffic. Busy junctions are often equipped with bicycle-specific traffic lights. There are large bicycle parking facilities, particularly in city centres and at train stations.
Rotterdam has the largest port in Europe, with the rivers Meuse and Rhine providing excellent access to the hinterland upstream reaching to Basel, Switzerland, and into France. As of 2013, Rotterdam was the world's eighth largest container port handling 440.5 million metric tonnes of cargo annually. The port's main activities are petrochemical industries and general cargo handling and transshipment. The harbour functions as an important transit point for bulk materials and between the European continent and overseas. From Rotterdam goods are transported by ship, river barge, train or road. In 2007, the Betuweroute, a new fast freight railway from Rotterdam to Germany, was completed.
Schiphol airport, just southwest of Amsterdam, is the main international airport in the Netherlands, and the fourth busiest airport in Europe in terms of passengers.
As part of its commitment to environmental sustainability, the Dutch government initiated a plan to establish over 200 recharging stations for electric vehicles across the country by 2015. The rollout will be undertaken by Switzerland-based power and automation company ABB and Dutch startup Fastened, and will aim to provide at least one station within a 50-kilometre radius (30 miles) from every home in the Netherlands.