| Economy - overview | The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy, which depends heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable industrial relations, moderate unemployment and inflation, a sizable current account surplus, and an important role as a European transportation hub. Industrial activity is predominantly in food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, and electrical machinery. A highly mechanized agricultural sector employs no more than 2% of the labor force but provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry and for exports. The Netherlands, along with 11 of its EU partners, began circulating the euro currency on 1 January 2002. The country continues to be one of the leading European nations for attracting foreign direct investment. Economic growth slowed considerably in 2001-06, as part of the global economic slowdown, but for the four years before that, annual growth averaged nearly 4%, well above the EU average. |
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| GDP | 1.6% (2005 est.) |
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| GDP - real growth rate | 2.9% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 2.1%
industry: 23.9%
services: 73.9% (2006 est.) |
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| Population below poverty line | 10.5% (1999) |
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Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2.5%
highest 10%: 22.9% (1999) |
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Distribution of family income
- Gini index | 30.9 (2005) |
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| Labor force | 7.6 million (2006 est.) |
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| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 2%
industry: 19%
services: 79% (2004 est.) |
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| Unemployment rate | 5.5% (2006 est.) |
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| Budget | revenues: $304.3 billion
expenditures: $306.5 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.) |
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| Industries | agroindustries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing |
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| Industrial production growth rate | 2.3% (2006 est.) |
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Electricity -
production | 92.7 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 89.9%
hydro: 0.1%
nuclear: 4.3%
other: 5.7% (2001) |
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Electricity -
consumption | 102.4 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
exports | 5.2 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
imports | 21.4 billion kWh (2004) |
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| Oil - production | 95,800 bbl/day (2004) |
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| Oil - consumption | 946,700 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - exports | 1.418 million bbl/day (2001) |
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| Oil - imports | 2.284 million bbl/day (2001) |
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| Oil - proved reserves | 88.06 million bbl (1 January 2002) |
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| Agriculture - products | grains, potatoes, sugar beets, fruits, vegetables; livestock |
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| Exports | $413.8 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Exports - commodities | machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels; foodstuffs |
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| Exports - partners | Germany 24.9%, Belgium 13%, France 9.4%, UK 9.2%, Italy 5.7%, US 4.3%, Spain 4.1% (2005) |
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| Imports | $373.8 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Imports - commodities | machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs, clothing |
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| Imports - partners | Germany 16.6%, Belgium 9.3%, China 8.8%, US 7.6%, UK 5.8%, France 4.7%, Russia 4.4% (2005) |
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| Debt - external | $1.899 trillion (30 June 2006) |
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| Currency code | EUR |
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| Exchange rates | euros per US dollar - 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002) |
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| Fiscal year | calendar year |
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