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The Netherlands is the Europeanpart of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands, theNetherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean. The Netherlands is aparliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy, located in Western Europe. Itis bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, andGermany to the east. The Netherlands is often called Holland, which is formallyincorrect as North and South Holland are merely two of its twelve provinces.The word Dutch is used to refer to thepeople, the language, and anything indigenous to the Netherlands.

The Netherlands has aninternational outlook. Among other affiliations the country is a foundingmember of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, and has signed the Kyotoprotocol. With Belgium and Luxembourg it constitutes the Benelux economicunion. The country is host to five international courts: the Permanent Court ofArbitration, the International Court of Justice, the International CriminalTribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Court and the SpecialTribunal for Lebanon. The former four are situated in The Hague as is the EU'scriminal intelligence agency Europol. This has led to the city being dubbed"the world's legal capital."

The Netherlands is a geographicallylow-lying country, with about 27% of its area and 60% of its population locatedbelow sea level. Significant areas have been gained through land reclamationand preserved through an elaborate system of polders and dikes. Much of theNetherlands is formed by the estuary of three important European rivers, whichtogether with their distributaries form the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta. Most ofthe country is very flat, with the exception of foothills of the Ardennes in thefar south–east and several low-hill ranges in the central parts created byice-age glaciers. The predominant wind direction in the Netherlands issouth-west, which causes a moderate maritime climate, with cool summers andmild winters. The Netherlands is a densely populated country of 16,408,557people (2008 estimate). It is popular for its traditional windmills, tulips, cheese,clogs, delftware and gouda pottery, forits bicycles, and in addition, traditional values and civil virtues such as itsclassic social tolerance.

The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy, whichdepends heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable industrialrelations, moderate unemployment and inflation, a sizable current accountsurplus, and an important role as a European transportation hub. Industrialactivity is predominantly in food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining,and electrical machinery. A highly mechanized agricultural sector employs nomore than 3% of the labor force but provides large surpluses for thefood-processing industry and for exports. The country continues to be one ofthe leading European nations for attracting foreign direct investment and isone of the five largest investors in the US. The economy experienced a slowdownin 2005 but in 2006 recovered to the fastest pace in six years on the back ofincreased exports and strong investment. The pace of job growth reached 10-yearhighs in 2007. In the real estate sector, prices rose 4% (1.8% in real terms)in March 2008 in the Netherlands - not spectacular, but the kind of gentleupwards motion which has been in progress since 2001. Also, it takes an averageof five days to complete all the procedures needed to register a property inthe Netherlands.