With a population of 16 million and a half, the Netherlands lies on 41,526 square kilometers, making the country one of the world’s most densely populated ones. Yet, despite its tiny size, the Netherlands has the tenth largest economy in the world, and ranks sixteenth in GDP. The Netherlands owes its high rankings in large part to its advanced transport infrastructure – with the port of Rotterdam and Schiphol Airport as its hubs – and its highly developed telecoms infrastructure. Rotterdam is Europe’s largest seaport, and the fourth largest in the world in terms of container activity, while Schiphol is Western Europe’s fourth largest airport.
Statistics Netherlands informed on April 23 that the volume of investments in tangible fixed assets was 2.2 percent higher in February 2015 than in February 2014. The increase was mainly caused by higher investments in residential property and lorries.
According to StartupJuncture’s quarterly investment overview overview, more than 30 Dutch startups have raised 79 million euros in the first quarter of 2015: a 60 percent increase in number of deals, with the average investment amount being 1 million euros. The biggest investment round was that of WeTransfer of 22 million euros.
The Netherlands is best known for its tulips, windmills, museums and clogs, but also for its low altitude and vulnerability to flooding. For instance, the latest figures released by Statistics Netherlands issued last week reveal that Dutch museums are attracting more visitors, but this increase almost exclusively involved the large museums. The Dutch museums received 26.5 million visitors in 2013, over 3.3 million more than in 2011.
Less known is that the Dutch have won Nobel prizes for chemistry, physics, medicine, economics and peace or that the world’s planners and architects flock here to learn about Dutch solutions for this crowded country.
Did you know that…
- one quarter of the Netherlands is below sea level?
- the Netherlands’ highest point is 323 meters high and is called a “mountain”?
- when your plane arrives at Schiphol, it lands 4.5 meters below sea level?
- with only 0.008% of the world’s area, the Netherlands is the world’s third largest agricultural exporter and world’s eighth largest exporter?
- the Netherlands has at least 15,000 km of cycle tracks and almost every Dutch person has a bicycle and there are twice as many bikes as cars?
- the Netherlands still has about 1,000 traditional working windmills?
- the Netherlands has nearly 1,000 museums, with 42 in Amsterdam alone? Tip: you cand see 22 paintings by Rembrandt and 206 by Van Gogh in Amsterdam.
- Amsterdam has 1,281 bridges and is entirely built on piles?
- the Netherlands has the highest number of part-time workers in the EU (four in ten people)?
- the Netherlands has one of the youngest populations in the EU?
- one in every three Dutch people belongs to a sports club?
- the Dutch are the tallest people in Europe?
- after Scandinavians, the Dutch are the world’s biggest coffee drinkers?
- people of 200 nationalities live in Amsterdam?
- the Netherlands has the highest cable density in Europe?