The Netherlands, the sixth-largest economy in the European Union, plays an important role as a European transportation hub, with a consistently high trade surplus, stable industrial relations, and low unemployment. Industry focuses on food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, and electrical machinery. A highly mechanized agricultural sector employs only 2% of the labor force but provides large surpluses for food-processing and underpins the country’s status as the world’s second largest agricultural exporter.
The Netherlands is part of the euro zone, and as such, its monetary policy is controlled by the European Central Bank. The Dutch financial sector is highly concentrated, with four commercial banks possessing over 80% of banking assets, and is four times the size of Dutch GDP.
In 2008, during the financial crisis, the government budget deficit hit 5.3% of GDP. Following a protracted recession from 2009 to 2013, during which unemployment doubled to 7.4% and household consumption contracted for four consecutive years, economic growth began inching forward in 2014. Since 2010, Prime Minister Mark RUTTE’s government has implemented significant austerity measures to improve public finances and has instituted broad structural reforms in key policy areas, including the labor market, the housing sector, the energy market, and the pension system. In 2017, the government budget returned to a surplus of 0.7% of GDP, with economic growth of 3.2%, and GDP per capita finally surpassed pre-crisis levels. The fiscal policy announced by the new government in the 2018-2021 coalition plans for increases in government consumption and public investment, fueling domestic demand and household consumption and investment. The new government’s policy also plans to increase demand for workers in the public and private sector, forecasting a further decline in the unemployment rate, which hit 4.8% in 2017.
1.63% (2019 est.)
2.32% (2018 est.)
3.02% (2017 est.)
2.6% (2019 est.)
1.7% (2018 est.)
1.3% (2017 est.)
Fitch rating: AAA (1994)
Moody's rating: Aaa (1986)
Standard & Poors rating: AAA (2015)
$986.847 billion (2019 est.)
$970.567 billion (2018 est.)
$948.181 billion (2017 est.)
note: data are in 2010 dollars
$907.042 billion (2019 est.)
$56,935 (2019 est.)
$56,325 (2018 est.)
$55,348 (2017 est.)
note: data are in 2010 dollars
31.2% of GDP (2019 est.)
31.8% of GDP (2018 est.)
31.4% of GDP (2017 est.)
agriculture: 1.6% (2017 est.)
industry: 17.9% (2017 est.)
services: 70.2% (2017 est.)
household consumption: 44.3% (2017 est.)
government consumption: 24.2% (2017 est.)
investment in fixed capital: 20.5% (2017 est.)
investment in inventories: 0.2% (2017 est.)
exports of goods and services: 83% (2017 est.)
imports of goods and services: -72.3% (2017 est.)
Overall score: 76.1 (2020)
Starting a Business score: 94.3 (2020)
Trading score: 100 (2020)
Enforcement score: 59.9 (2020)
milk, potatoes, sugar beet, pork, onions, wheat, poultry, tomatoes, carrots/turnips, beef
agroindustries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing
3.3% (2017 est.)
8.907 million (2020 est.)
agriculture: 1.2%
industry: 17.2%
services: 81.6% (2015 est.)
3.41% (2019 est.)
3.84% (2018 est.)
13.6% (2019 est.)
28.5 (2017 est.)
25.1 (2013 est.)
lowest 10%: 2.3%
highest 10%: 24.9% (2014 est.)
revenues: 361.4 billion (2017 est.)
expenditures: 352.4 billion (2017 est.)
43.4% (of GDP) (2017 est.)
1.1% (of GDP) (2017 est.)
56.5% of GDP (2017 est.)
61.3% of GDP (2016 est.)
note: data cover general government debt and include debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data include debt issued by subnational entities, as well as intragovernmental debt; intragovernmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement, medical care, and unemployment, debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions
calendar year
$90.207 billion (2019 est.)
$98.981 billion (2018 est.)
$857.574 billion (2019 est.)
$835.759 billion (2018 est.)
$801.942 billion (2017 est.)
Germany 20%, Belgium 12%, United Kingdom 9%, France 7%, United States 5% (2019)
refined petroleum, packaged medicines, broadcasting equipment, photography equipment, computers (2019)
$755.65 billion (2019 est.)
$732.865 billion (2018 est.)
$700.657 billion (2017 est.)
Germany 15%, China 11%, Belgium 9%, United States 8%, Russia 7%, United Kingdom 5% (2019)
crude petroleum, refined petroleum, broadcasting equipment, computers, cars (2019)
$38.44 billion (31 December 2017 est.)
$38.21 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
$4,345,413,000,000 (2019 est.)
$4,625,016,000,000 (2018 est.)
euros (EUR) per US dollar -
0.82771 (2020 est.)
0.90338 (2019 est.)
0.87789 (2018 est.)
0.885 (2014 est.)
0.7634 (2013 est.)
NOTE: The information regarding Netherlands on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Netherlands 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Netherlands 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
This page was last modified 16 Dec 23, Copyright © 2023 ITA all rights reserved.