Country · Europe
Netherlands
Kingdom of the Netherlands
Netherlands is a country in Western Europe. Its capital city is Amsterdam. About 17.2 million people live there, in an area of 41 850 square kilometres.
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, but the government and parliament sit in The Hague.
Picture credit: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma (CC BY-SA 3.0 nl) · CEphoto, Uwe Aranas (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Anefo (CC0) · Nicolas Völcker (CC BY 3.0) · DimiTalen (CC0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Netherlands?
Netherlands lies in Western Europe, on the continent of Europe.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 5 844 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 451 km long.
It shares a border with 2 countries: Belgium and Germany.
How big is Netherlands?
Netherlands covers 41 850 square kilometres.
That is about 16 times the size of Luxembourg.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 131st largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 411.7 people on every square kilometre.
Who lives in Netherlands?
About 17.2 million people live in Netherlands.
That is the 66th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Dutch.
They pay with the Euro (€).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 78 years.
The land of Netherlands
The land in Netherlands sits on average 30 metres above sea level, which makes it one of the flatter countries on Earth.
Its coast runs for about 451 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 23 days.
It lies between the tropics and the poles, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Netherlands different?
A dish the country is known for: Stamppot and hutspot.
Websites from here often end in .nl.
Netherlands and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 2 live in Netherlands.
It takes up about 0.03 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Europe it is the 30th largest of 45 countries, and the 10th most populated.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Netherlands and its neighbours
Germany, its largest neighbour, is about 8.5 times bigger.
Germany has more people: 82.9 million against 17.2 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 5 live wild in Netherlands: European badger, European hedgehog, Common pipistrelle bat, Mute swan and Harbour seal. The longest river is the Rhine, running 1 230 km from source to mouth.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Netherlands?
The capital of Netherlands is Amsterdam. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Netherlands?
About 17.2 million people live in Netherlands, which makes it the 66th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Netherlands?
Netherlands borders Belgium and Germany — 2 neighbours in total.
How big is Netherlands?
Netherlands covers 41 850 square kilometres, making it the 131st largest country in the world. That is about 16 times the size of Luxembourg.
Which continent is Netherlands in?
Netherlands is in Europe, in the part called Western Europe.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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