Economy - overview:
The Netherlands is a prosperous and open economy depending heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable industrial relations, moderate 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 4% 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 2001-02, as part of the global economic slowdown, but for the four years before that, annual growth averaged nearly 4%, well above the EU average.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $434 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
0.3% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $26,900 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 3.1%
industry: 25.7%
services: 71.2% (2001 est.)
Population below poverty line:
NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 25.1% (1994)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
32.6 (1994)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.4% (2002 est.)
Labor force:
7.2 million (2000)
Labor force - by occupation:
services 73%, industry 23%, agriculture 4% (1998 est.)
Unemployment rate:
3% (2002 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $134 billion
expenditures: $134 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)
Industries:
agroindustries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing
Industrial production growth rate:
0% (2002 est.)
Electricity - production:
88.32 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 89.9%
hydro: 0.1%
other: 5.7% (2001)
nuclear: 4.3%
Electricity - consumption:
99.42 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
4.209 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
21.49 billion kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
46,200 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
895,300 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
1.418 million bbl/day (2001)
Oil - imports:
2.284 million bbl/day (2001)
Oil - proved reserves:
88.06 million bbl (January 2002 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
1.693 trillion cu m (January 2002 est.)
Agriculture - products:
grains, potatoes, sugar beets, fruits, vegetables; livestock
Exports:
$243.3 billion f.o.b. (2002)
Exports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels; foodstuffs
Exports - partners:
EU 77.1% (Germany 25.7%, Benelux 12.5%, UK 10.5%, France 10.0%, Italy 5.9%) (2002)
Imports:
$201.1 billion f.o.b. (2001 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, fuels; foodstuffs, clothing
Imports - partners:
EU 53.1% (Germany 17.6%, Benelux 9.6%, UK 6.7%, France 5.5%), US 8.7% (2002)
Economic aid - donor:
ODA, $3.5 billion (2000 est.)
Currency:
euro (EUR)
note: on 1 January 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by financial institutions of member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions within the member countries
Currency code:
EUR
Exchange rates:
euros per US dollar - 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175 (2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
NOTE: The information regarding Netherlands on this page is re-published from the 2003 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea Geography 2003 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Netherlands Economy 2003 should be addressed to the CIA.
