Netherlands Economy - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Economic overview

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.

Real GDP (purchasing power parity)

$945.48 billion (2020 est.)

$982.22 billion (2019 est.)

$966.02 billion (2018 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

Real GDP growth rate

1.63% (2019 est.)

2.32% (2018 est.)

3.02% (2017 est.)

Real GDP per capita

$54,200 (2020 est.)

$56,600 (2019 est.)

$56,100 (2018 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

GDP (official exchange rate)

$907.042 billion (2019 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

2.6% (2019 est.)

1.7% (2018 est.)

1.3% (2017 est.)

Credit ratings

Fitch rating: AAA (1994)

Moody's rating: Aaa (1986)

Standard & Poors rating: AAA (2015)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

GDP - composition, by sector of origin

agriculture: 1.6% (2017 est.)

industry: 17.9% (2017 est.)

services: 70.2% (2017 est.)

GDP - composition, by end use

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.)

Agricultural products

milk, potatoes, sugar beet, pork, onions, wheat, poultry, tomatoes, carrots/turnips, beef

Industries

agroindustries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing

Industrial production growth rate

3.3% (2017 est.)

Labor force

8.907 million (2020 est.)

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 1.2%

industry: 17.2%

services: 81.6% (2015 est.)

Unemployment rate

3.41% (2019 est.)

3.84% (2018 est.)

Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)

total: 9.3%

male: 9.7%

female: 9% (2021 est.)

Population below poverty line

13.6% (2019 est.)

Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income

28.5 (2017 est.)

25.1 (2013 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 2.3%

highest 10%: 24.9% (2014 est.)

Budget

revenues: 361.4 billion (2017 est.)

expenditures: 352.4 billion (2017 est.)

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

1.1% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Public debt

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

Taxes and other revenues

43.4% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Current account balance

$90.207 billion (2019 est.)

$98.981 billion (2018 est.)

Exports

$719.78 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$755.77 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$773.74 billion (2018 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

Exports - partners

Germany 20%, Belgium 12%, United Kingdom 9%, France 7%, United States 5% (2019)

Exports - commodities

refined petroleum, packaged medicines, broadcasting equipment, photography equipment, computers (2019)

Imports

$622.66 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$661.18 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$677.38 billion (2018 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

Imports - partners

Germany 15%, China 11%, Belgium 9%, United States 8%, Russia 7%, United Kingdom 5% (2019)

Imports - commodities

crude petroleum, refined petroleum, broadcasting equipment, computers, cars (2019)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$38.44 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

$38.21 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

Debt - external

$4,345,413,000,000 (2019 est.)

$4,625,016,000,000 (2018 est.)

Exchange rates

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 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Netherlands 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Netherlands 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.