Three Gorges Dam
EnergyThe world's largest hydropower station by installed capacity, at 22.5 GW, and the main flood-control structure on the Yangtze.
Yichang, Hubei
The Dutch United Provinces declared their independence from Spain in 1579; during the 17th century, they became a leading seafaring and commercial power, with settlements and colonies around the world. After a 20-year French occupation, a Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed in 1815. In 1830 Belgium seceded and formed a separate kingdom. The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I, but suffered invasion and occupation by Germany in World War II. A modern, industrialized nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products. The country was a founding member of NATO and the EEC (now the EU) and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999. …
The National Infrastructure Index maps the physical assets national life runs on — power stations and grids, water systems, ports, railways and airports, data networks, payment systems and launch sites. Each asset is placed in a Strategic Infrastructure capability group, so it can be read against the ratings in the National Capability index above.
Assets are chosen for how much of the economy and state depends on them and how hard they would be to replace. Each card records what the asset is, the category it belongs to, what it does and where it is.
Example assets. These twenty cards are modelled on China's most critical infrastructure and show on every nation page until each nation's own assets are mapped.
The world's largest hydropower station by installed capacity, at 22.5 GW, and the main flood-control structure on the Yangtze.
A 16 GW dam on the Jinsha River, built around sixteen 1 GW turbines, the largest single units in service.
A ±1,100 kV direct-current line carrying 12 GW more than 3,000 km from Xinjiang's power bases to the eastern grid.
China's first large commercial nuclear plant, in service since 1994, with much of its output sold to Hong Kong.
A canal carrying Yangtze basin water more than 1,400 km north from the Danjiangkou Reservoir to Beijing and Tianjin.
The 1,318 km trunk line between the two largest cities, opened in 2011 and one of the busiest high-speed routes in the world.
The world's busiest container port since 2010, including the automated Yangshan deep-water terminals.
The world's largest port by cargo tonnage, handling iron ore, crude oil and coal for the eastern industrial belt.
The capital's second international hub, opened in 2019 around one of the largest single terminal buildings in the world.
A 55 km bridge and undersea tunnel system linking the western and eastern shores of the Pearl River Delta, opened in 2018.
The 1,956 km line from Xining to Lhasa, crossing the Tanggula Pass at 5,072 m, the highest railway in the world.
One of eight national data centre hubs under the East Data, West Computing programme, hosting major cloud providers.
A 2,000 km quantum key distribution trunk line through Jinan and Hefei, completed in 2017 for secure government and bank links.
CIPS clears and settles cross-border payments in renminbi, launched in 2015 to extend the currency's international reach.
The coastal launch site for Long March 5 heavy-lift rockets, used for the Tiangong station modules and lunar and Mars missions.
China's first launch site, founded in 1958 in the Gobi Desert, and the base for every crewed Shenzhou mission.
The national satellite navigation system, providing global positioning and timing since 2020 from its Beijing control segment.
The world's largest known rare-earth deposit and the core of China's rare-earth mining and refining supply chain.
A weir and channel system built around 256 BC that still irrigates much of the Chengdu Plain's farmland.
China's leading maker of 3D NAND flash memory, central to the drive for a domestic semiconductor supply.
The National Development Index tracks the events that move a nation's capability — policy decisions, technological milestones, economic turns and external shocks — and places each one on the record with the date it happened and what followed from it. It is the narrative counterpart to the indices: where a rating says where the Netherlands stands, the index says how it arrived there.
Recent developments cover the current cycle, close enough that their consequences are still unfolding. Historical developments are the inflection points behind the present position — the decisions and events a reader needs in order to read the ratings above in context.
Systematic reclamation of land below sea level began in the 14th century, producing the polders that characterise much of the country. This gave the Netherlands its distinctive engineered landscape and expanded usable agricultural territory.
Signed on 23 January 1579 by Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and other provinces, the treaty set common terms on defence, taxation and religion. It is regarded as the founding document of the Dutch Republic, formed a few years later.
During the 17th-century Golden Age the Dutch built a global trading empire with settlements and colonies around the world. The modern Netherlands remains a highly industrialised nation and a large exporter of agricultural products.
Part of the wider Peace of Westphalia, the treaty formally ended the conflict between Spain and the Dutch Republic that had run since 1568, confirming the republic as a sovereign state within the European order.
Recognised at the Congress of Vienna, the kingdom merged the former Dutch Republic with the Southern Netherlands and Luxembourg under the House of Orange. The union was short-lived: the southern provinces seceded in 1830 to form Belgium.
In 1830 the southern provinces revolted and seceded as the independent Kingdom of Belgium.
The 1848 constitutional reform established parliamentary democracy under the monarchy. It remains the foundation of the Dutch political system.
The country stayed out of World War I, preserving its neutrality throughout the conflict.
Women gained the vote in 1919, two years after universal male suffrage. This completed the democratic franchise in the Netherlands.
Germany invaded on 10 May 1940, and the bombing of Rotterdam forced most of the Dutch army to surrender, ending Dutch neutrality as a viable strategy. The occupation included the deportation and murder of most of the country's Jewish population, and lasted until Allied forces completed the country's liberation in May 1945.
Sovereignty was transferred on 27 December 1949 following the Round Table Conference in The Hague, ending more than three centuries of Dutch colonial rule over the archipelago after a revolution that began in 1945.
The treaty, signed in Washington on 4 April 1949, bound the country into a collective defence alliance with the United States, Canada and other Western European states at the start of the Cold War.
The flood of 31 January to 1 February 1953 was the country's worst peacetime disaster in centuries and also struck Belgium and England. It led to the Delta Works, a decades-long programme of storm barriers and dams.
Signed on 7 February 1992 and named after the Dutch city where it was agreed, the treaty created the European Union and set out the path to a single currency. It entered into force in November 1993.
The package, unveiled on 7 July 2026, also covered closer naval cooperation with the United Kingdom and joint investment projects with Germany, as allies reported progress toward higher alliance-wide spending targets.
The ministry said on 9 July 2026 that the Netherlands would keep backing Kyiv financially and press other allies to increase support, after supplying more than €5 billion in weapons over the previous year.
Organised by groups including Agractie, farmers blocked roads such as the A27, A16 and A2 on 27 July 2026 against proposals requiring nitrogen cuts of 42 to 46 per cent by 2035. Polling found 68 per cent of Dutch adults understood the protests.
The central bank's Spring Projections put inflation at 2.7 per cent for 2026, up from a December 2025 estimate of 2.4 per cent, citing supply-chain disruption and volatile energy prices.
The partnership between the Dutch applied-research organisation and the Veldhoven-based lithography maker aims to expand domestic production capacity for photonic chips, used in data communication and sensing, to strengthen Europe's position in the technology.
The ruling, delivered on 28 January 2026 in a case brought by Greenpeace Netherlands and eight Bonaire residents, ordered the government to set binding economy-wide emissions targets in law within 18 months and produce a climate adaptation plan for the island by 2030.
The three parties, holding 66 of 150 seats, reached agreement after roughly 117 days of talks following the October 2025 election. The pact relies on opposition support in parliament to pass legislation.
Security personnel detected multiple unmanned aircraft inside the restricted zone on the night of 17 to 18 November 2025 and opened fire without bringing any down. It was the first recorded instance of the Dutch military shooting at drones over its own territory.
The election was triggered by the collapse of the Schoof cabinet after the Party for Freedom quit over asylum policy. D66, led by Rob Jetten, edged ahead on votes cast, positioning it to lead coalition talks.
The Budget Memorandum, presented on 16 September 2025, forecast growth of around 1 per cent for 2026 and included a one-off €8.5 billion cost from reforming the military pension system.
The Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight was destroyed on 17 July 2014 by a missile fired from separatist-held territory during the war in Donbas, according to Dutch-led investigators. A Dutch court convicted three men in absentia in 2022.
In October 2010 the former Netherlands Antilles was dissolved; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba became special municipalities within the Netherlands, while Sint Maarten and Curacao joined the Netherlands and Aruba as constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The law took effect on 1 April 2001, when four couples married in Amsterdam shortly after midnight. Other countries cited the Dutch law as a precedent over the following two decades.
The country took part in the launch of the euro in 1999, with notes and coins entering circulation in 2002.
The Dutch United Provinces declared their independence from Spain in 1579; during the 17th century, they became a leading seafaring and commercial power, with settlements and colonies around the world. After a 20-year French occupation, a Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed in 1815. In 1830 Belgium seceded and formed a separate kingdom. The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I, but suffered invasion and occupation by Germany in World War II. A modern, industrialized nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products. The country was a founding member of NATO and the EEC (now the EU) and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999. In October 2010, the former Netherlands Antilles was dissolved and the three smallest islands - Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba - became special municipalities in the Netherlands administrative structure. The larger islands of Sint Maarten and Curacao joined the Netherlands and Aruba as constituent countries forming the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
23 January 1579 (the northern provinces of the Low Countries conclude the Union of Utrecht breaking with Spain; on 26 July 1581 they formally declared their independence with an Act of Abjuration; however, it was not until 30 January 1648 and the Peace of Westphalia that Spain recognized this independence)
King's Day (for 2014, the holiday will be on 26 April; thereafter it will fall on the King's Birthday of 27 April (1967))
Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between Belgium and Germany
52 30 N, 5 45 E
Europe
slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey
451 km
mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (polders); some hills in southeast
natural gas, petroleum, peat, limestone, salt, sand and gravel, arable land
4,572 sq km (2007)
flooding
located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine, Maas or Meuse, and Schelde)
91 cu km (2011)
water pollution in the form of heavy metals, organic compounds, and nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates; air pollution from vehicles and refining activities; acid rain
temperate; marine; cool summers and mild winters
Capability-group ratings for Critical Technology are part of the GINC National Capability Framework rather than the country factbook. They are published in the National Capability index, and the per-capability detail lives on the capability pages.
Clinical research and life-science invention, drawn from the same series that drive the metric pages. Each card opens the full cross-country comparison.
29 (2013)
1 (2013)
19.643 million (2012)
14.872 million (2009)
.nl
98.57 billion kWh (2013 est.)
116.8 billion kWh (2013 est.)
15.02 billion kWh (2013 est.)
33.25 billion kWh (2013 est.)
29.92 million kW (2012)
85.1% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
1.6% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
0.1% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
13.2% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
29,400 bbl/day (2013 est.)
35,500 bbl/day (2013 est.)
1.202 million bbl/day (2012 est.)
352 million bbl (1 January 2013 est.)
1.248 million bbl/day (2010 est.)
1.01 million bbl/day (2011 est.)
2.138 million bbl/day (2010 est.)
2.079 million bbl/day (2010 est.)
81.52 billion cu m (2013 est.)
44.11 billion cu m (2013 est.)
63.42 billion cu m (2013 est.)
24.65 billion cu m (2013 est.)
1.09 trillion cu m (1 January 2013 est.)
58.1 million Mt (2012 est.)
7.086 million (2012)
13.699 million (2012)
condensate 81 km; gas 8,531 km; oil 578 km; refined products 716 km (2013)
6,237 km (navigable for ships of 50 tons) (2012)
1.27% of GDP (2012)//1.35% of GDP (2011)//1.27% of GDP (2010)
17 years of age for an all-volunteer force (2014)
Active-duty strength on the Correlates of War series, which reaches back to 1816 and so carries a nation’s whole record of mobilisation rather than its present establishment. The card opens the full cross-country comparison.
Royal Netherlands Army, Royal Netherlands Navy (includes Naval Air Service and Marine Corps), Royal Netherlands Air Force (Koninklijke Luchtmacht, KLu), Royal Military Police (2012)
16,877,351 (July 2014 est.)
0.42% (2014 est.)
10.83 births/1,000 population (2014 est.)
8.57 deaths/1,000 population (2014 est.)
1.78 children born/woman (2014 est.)
29.4 (2011 est.)
1.97 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2014 est.)
AMSTERDAM (capital) 1.056 million; Rotterdam 1.014 million; The Hague (seat of government) 635,000 (2011)
4.7 beds/1,000 population (2009)
18.8% (2008)
Modelled share of working-age adults using generative AI, from Microsoft telemetry scaled to each country’s 15–64 population. A measure of how fast a workforce is absorbing the technology rather than of how much of it a nation builds. The card opens the full cross-country comparison.
9.1% (2013 est.)
6 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)
69%
12% of GDP (2011)
3.92 physicians/1,000 population (2007)
0.2% (2009 est.)
22,000 (2009 est.)
fewer than 100 (2009 est.)
5.9% of GDP (2011)
none
constitutional monarchy
12 provinces (provincies, singular - provincie); Drenthe, Flevoland, Fryslan (Friesland), Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, Noord-Brabant (North Brabant), Noord-Holland (North Holland), Overijssel, Utrecht, Zeeland (Zealand), Zuid-Holland (South Holland)
Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten
previous 1597, 1798; latest adopted 24 August 1815 (substantially revised in 1848); amended many times, last in 2010 (2013)
18 years of age; universal
civil law system based on the French system; constitution does not permit judicial review of acts of the States General
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction
bicameral States General or Staten Generaal consists of the First Chamber or Eerste Kamer (75 seats; members indirectly elected by the country's 12 provincial councils to serve four-year terms) and the Second Chamber or Tweede Kamer (150 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
major European producer of synthetic drugs, including ecstasy, and cannabis cultivator; important gateway for cocaine, heroin, and hashish entering Europe; major source of US-bound ecstasy; large financial sector vulnerable to money laundering; significant consumer of ecstasy
Christian Democratic Appeal or CDA [Sybrand VAN HAERSMA BUMA]//Christian Union or CU [Arie SLOB]//Democrats 66 or D66 [Alexander PECHTOLD]//Green Left or GL [Bram VAN OJIK]//Labor Party or PvdA [Diederik SAMSOM]//Party for Freedom or PVV [Geert WILDERS]//Party for the Animals or PvdD [Marianne THIEME]//People's Party for Freedom and Democracy or VVD [Mark RUTTE]//Reformed Political Party or SGP [Kees VAN DER STAAIJ]//Socialist Party or SP [Emile ROEMER]//plus a few minor parties
Christian Trade Union Federation or CNV [Jaap SMIT]//Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers or VNO-NCW [Bernard WIENTJES]//Federation for Small and Medium-sized businesses or MKB [Hans BIESHEUVEL]//Netherlands Trade Union Federation or FNV [Ton HEERTS]//Social Economic Council or SER [Wiebe DRAIJER]//Trade Union Federation of Middle and High Personnel or MHP [Reginald VISSER]
three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and blue; similar to the flag of Luxembourg, which uses a lighter blue and is longer; the colors were those of WILLIAM I, Prince of Orange, who led the Dutch Revolt against Spanish sovereignty in the latter half of the 16th century; originally the upper band was orange, but because it tended to fade to red over time, the red shade was eventually made the permanent color; the banner is perhaps the oldest tricolor in continuous use
Dutch (official)
Roman Catholic 28%, Protestant 19% (includes Dutch Reformed 9%, Protestant Church of The Netherlands, 7%, Calvinist 3%), other 11% (includes about 5% Muslim and lesser numbers of Hindu, Buddhist, Jehovah's Witness, and Orthodox), none 42% (2009 est.)
Dutch 80.7%, EU 5%, Indonesian 2.4%, Turkish 2.2%, Surinamese 2%, Moroccan 2%, Caribbean 0.8%, other 4.8% (2008 est.)
lion
more than 90% of households are connected to cable or satellite TV systems that provide a wide range of domestic and foreign channels; public service broadcast system includes multiple broadcasters, 3 with a national reach and the remainder operating in regional and local markets; 2 major nationwide commercial television companies, each with 3 or more stations, and many commercial TV stations in regional and local markets; nearly 600 radio stations with a mix of public and private stations providing national or regional coverage (2008)
ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, Benelux, BIS, CBSS (observer), CD, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECB, EIB, EITI (implementing country), EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, FATF, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD (partners), IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MINUSMA, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Pacific Alliance (observer), Paris Club, PCA, Schengen Convention, SELEC (observer), UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMISS, UNRWA, UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
43.7% of GDP (2014 est.)
-3.3% of GDP (2014 est.)
74.3% of GDP (2013 est.)//71.3% of GDP (2012 est.)
2.5% (2013 est.)//2.5% (2012 est.)
$71.95 billion (31 December 2013 est.)//$54.82 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
$2.347 trillion (31 December 2013 est.)//$2.434 trillion (31 December 2012 est.)
euros (EUR) per US dollar -//0.7634 (2013 est.)//0.7752 (2012 est.)//0.755 (2010 est.)//0.7198 (2009 est.)//0.6827 (2008 est.)
$722.3 billion (2013 est.)
agroindustries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing
0.5% (2013 est.)
7.939 million (2013 est.)
8.3% (2013 est.)//6.4% (2012 est.)
Netherlands is the sixth-largest economy in the euro-zone and is noted for its stable industrial relations, moderate unemployment and inflation, sizable trade surplus, and 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 only 2% of the labor force but provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry and for exports. Netherlands, along with 11 of its EU partners, began circulating the euro currency on 1 January 2002. The Dutch financial sector suffered as a result of the global financial crisis, due in part to the high exposure of some Dutch banks to US mortgage-backed securities. In 2008, the government nationalized two banks and injected billions of dollars of capital into other financial institutions, to prevent further deterioration of a crucial sector. After 26 years of uninterrupted economic growth, the Dutch economy - highly dependent on an international financial sector and international trade - contracted by 3.5% in 2009. To recover, the government sought to boost the domestic economy by accelerating infrastructure programs, offering corporate tax breaks for employers to retain workers, and expanding export credit facilities. The stimulus programs and bank bailouts, however, resulted in a government budget deficit of 5.3% of GDP in 2010 that contrasted sharply with a surplus of 0.7% in 2008. The government of Prime Minister Mark RUTTE began implementing austerity measures in early 2011, mainly reducting expenditures, which resulted in an improved budget deficit in 2011. However, in 2012 tax revenues dropped, GDP contracted, and the budget deficit deteriorated. In 2013, the government budget deficit decreased to 3.3% of GDP due to increased government revenue from higher taxes. However, spending on social benefits also increased, due to a rise in unemployment benefits and payments for pensions. The high unemployment rate and tax increases have contributed to continued decreases in household disposable income, causing the Dutch economy to contract.
$699.7 billion (2013 est.)//$705.3 billion (2012 est.)//$714.2 billion (2011 est.)
-0.8% (2013 est.)//-1.2% (2012 est.)//0.9% (2011 est.)
$43,300 (2012 est.)//$43,200 (2011 est.)//$41,600 (2010 est.)
26.2% of GDP (2013 est.)//27.5% of GDP (2012 est.)//28.3% of GDP (2011 est.)
grains, potatoes, sugar beets, fruits, vegetables; livestock
30.9 (2007)//32.6 (1994)
calendar year
0.75% (31 December 2013)//1.5% (31 December 2010)
2.3% (31 December 2013 est.)//2.65% (31 December 2012 est.)
$401.1 billion (31 December 2013 est.)//$389.9 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
$1.169 trillion (31 December 2013 est.)//$1.136 trillion (31 December 2012 est.)
$1.736 trillion (31 December 2013 est.)//$1.7 trillion (31 December 2012 est.)
$675 billion (31 December 2013 est.)//$651 billion (31 December 2012)//$594.7 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$646.4 billion (31 December 2013 est.)//$605.7 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
$1.034 trillion (31 December 2013 est.)//$961.4 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
$65.87 billion (2013 est.)//$51.54 billion (2012 est.)
$576.9 billion (2013 est.)//$550 billion (2012 est.)
Germany 26.5%, Belgium 13.7%, France 8.8%, UK 8%, Italy 4.5% (2012)
machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels; foodstuffs
$511 billion (2013 est.)//$498.5 billion (2012 est.)
Germany 13.8%, China 12%, Belgium 8.4%, UK 6.7%, Russia 6.4%, US 6.1% (2012)
machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs, clothing