Country profile · Western Europe
Netherlands
The Netherlands has about 18.2 million people (CBS, 2026). Prime Minister Rob Jetten has led a minority government since February 2026. The Netherlands is a founding member of NATO and the EU. It lives from trade: Rotterdam is Europe's largest port, and ASML, in Veldhoven, is the only company that makes the machines for the most advanced chips.
Where the Netherlands ranks
All rankings →Which alliances is the Netherlands in?
All alliances →Who runs the Netherlands?
Prime Minister Rob Jetten was born on March 25, 1987, in Veghel, in the south of the country. He worked for ProRail, the company that manages the railway tracks, before entering parliament in 2017. He has led the liberal party D66 since 2023. When he was sworn in on February 23, 2026, aged 38, he became the youngest prime minister in Dutch history and the first who is openly gay. He is engaged to Nicolás Keenan, an Argentine field hockey player. At the election of October 29, 2025, D66 and Geert Wilders' anti-immigration PVV both won 26 of 150 seats. Seven of Wilders' members of parliament left him in January 2026. The liberal VVD refused to govern with the left, so D66, the VVD and the Christian Democrats formed a cabinet with only 66 seats (chart). It needs opposition votes for every law, and in April 2026 the Senate rejected its emergency asylum law. King Willem-Alexander has been head of state since 2013. Provincial elections on March 17, 2027 will choose a new Senate.
- The government: D66, VVD and CDA 66
- Party for Freedom (PVV, Geert Wilders) 19
- Other opposition parties 65
Photo (October 2019): Martijn Beekman, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
Who are the Netherlands' allies and rivals?
The Netherlands is a founding member of NATO and of what became the EU. Mark Rutte, the longest-serving Dutch prime minister, has led NATO since October 2024. The Netherlands spent $28.9 billion on defense in 2025, 2.2% of GDP (SIPRI), and plans to reach 3.5% by 2035. Its F-35 fighters at Volkel air base were the first in Europe certified to carry American nuclear bombs. It gave Ukraine 24 F-16 fighter jets and €11.7 billion of military aid by February 2026. Russia is the main rival. Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing 298 people, 196 of them Dutch. In 2025 the UN aviation body found Russia responsible. Aruba, one of the Dutch islands in the Caribbean, lies about 29 km off Venezuela. When US forces seized Venezuela's president in January 2026, the Dutch government refused US requests to use the island of Curaçao. In April 2026 it also refused to back the US blockade of Iran.
Allies and partners
GermanyLargest trade partner; Dutch brigades in German divisions
BelgiumNeighbor; the two navies are building 12 minehunters
United StatesNATO ally; biggest energy supplier; presses on ASML sales
- Rotterdam Europe's largest port. It handled 428 million tonnes of cargo in 2025.
- Veldhoven Home of ASML, the only maker of the machines that print the most advanced chips.
- Afsluitdijk Dam closed in 1932. It cut the Zuiderzee off from the North Sea.
- Groningen gas field Once Europe's largest gas field. Closed by law in April 2024 because drilling caused earthquakes.
- Netherlands
- Partner
Who does the Netherlands trade with?
The Netherlands exported €654.8 billion of goods in 2025 and imported €581.9 billion (CBS). Germany and Belgium take a third of exports, and the United States and China are the second and fourth biggest suppliers (chart). About half of Dutch exports are re-exports: goods made elsewhere that arrive in the Netherlands and leave again. In 2024 re-exports were 49.7% of all exports, and 60% of what went to Germany. Rotterdam is Europe's largest port. It handled 428.4 million tonnes of cargo and 14.2 million containers in 2025. Farm exports reached a record €137.5 billion, €49.1 billion of them re-exports, and cut flowers alone earned €4.4 billion. The Groningen gas field, found in 1959, was the largest in Europe. Drilling there caused earthquakes, and the field was closed by law in April 2024. In 2025 the United States became the largest supplier of Dutch energy. The economy grew 1.9% in 2025, and the government's planning office expects 1.4% in 2026.
Sells to
Share of the Netherlands' exports
- Germany22.2%
- Belgium11.5%
France7.6%
United Kingdom6.3%- United States4.9%
Buys from
Share of the Netherlands' imports
- Germany16.9%
- United States9.8%
- Belgium9.6%
China8.3%- United Kingdom4.3%
Goods, 2025. UN Comtrade, as reported by the Netherlands.
Why is ASML so important?
ASML, founded in 1984 by Philips and ASM International, is the only company in the world that makes extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines. TSMC, Samsung and Intel need them to mass-produce the most advanced chips. The newest model costs about $400 million. It is Europe's most valuable listed company. Its sales were €32.7 billion in 2025, and it expects €44 to 45 billion in 2026 as demand for AI chips grows. Under US pressure, the Netherlands has refused since 2019 to let ASML sell EUV machines to China. Since 2023 it has also required licenses for some older machines. China's share of ASML's sales fell from about 36% in 2024 to an expected 20% in 2026. A US bill, the MATCH Act, would force the Netherlands to match US rules. In 2025 the government used a 1952 law to block decisions at Nexperia, a chipmaker in Nijmegen owned by China's Wingtech. China then stopped exports from Nexperia's factories in China. The Netherlands traded $152 billion of goods with China in 2025 (chart).
Trade with China, 2025
Full ranking →- Germany$208bn
- Netherlands$152bn
- United Kingdom$114bn
Italy$84.6bn- France$78.5bn
Spain$59.3bn- Belgium$53.8bn
Poland$45.8bn
IMF International Trade in Goods (by partner country)
How much of the Netherlands is below sea level?
About 26% of the Netherlands lies below sea level, and 59% of the country could flood: from the sea, from the big rivers, or because it lies outside the dikes (PBL, the government's environment agency). The lowest point, in the Zuidplaspolder near Rotterdam, is 6.76 meters below sea level. The Dutch have drained large areas of sea and lake to make new land. The Afsluitdijk, a dam closed in 1932, cut off an inland sea, the Zuiderzee, and parts of it were later drained. Flevoland, drained in 1957 and 1968, is the largest artificial island in the world and became a province in 1986. On the night of January 31 to February 1, 1953, a North Sea storm broke the dikes in the southwest and killed 1,836 people. The country answered with the Delta Works, a chain of dams and storm barriers. The last of them, the Maeslant storm barrier near Rotterdam, was finished in 1997.