Over
Countries
0
Since 1924
Years
0
Over
Since 1924
Area
Total 41,526 sq. km; land (area excluding stretches of water broader than 6 meters): 33,883 sq. km.
Population
17.77 million (2024).
Capital
Amsterdam, with approx. 1.174 million inhabitants (2023). (The Hague is the seat of the government.)
Currency
Euro (EUR).
Language(s)
Dutch and Frisian.
Principal Imports
potatoes, vegetables, fruit, processed products for human consumption, living livestock, meat, cereal products, cacao products, oil, fat, cars, car parts, machines, chemicals, metals, food, textile products, toys, shoes, electronics, cloths, fashion, diamonds, polymers, pharmaceutical products.
Principal exports
potatoes, vegetables, fruit, processed meat, processed fish, processed vegetables (for human consumption), living livestock, meat, dairy products, eggs, machines and parts, natural gas, ornamental cultivation, high-quality plastics, metal products, petroleum products.
Principal agricultural and fishery products
potatoes, vegetables, fruit, processed meat, processed fish, processed vegetables (for human consumption), living livestock, meat, flowers, plants, dairy products, eggs.
Nearly 67% of the country consists of cultivated land, about 8% is devoted to forestry, and about 4% is uncultivated. The Netherlands is one of the most commercial countries of the world. Industry is highly developed. There are iron works, lime kilns, brick and tile kilns, potato mills, strawboard factories, tobacco factories, cocoa, flour, margarine, and artificial fertilizer works, carpentry works, electric bulb works, radio works, motor-car works, plastic works, cement factories, cotton, weaving and spinning mills, artificial silk factories, show works, chemical industries, cigar and cigarette factories, rice mills, oil factories, paper mills, engine works, distilleries, breweries, shipyards, candle works, potteries, saw mills and sugar refineries.
The Netherlands, headed by a hereditary constitutional monarchy (King Willem-Alexander der Nederlanden), are a party to the Benelux Customs Union (with Belgium and Luxembourg), and to the European Union.
As of October 10, 2010, with the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, the overseas part of the Netherlands is the BES Islands (consisting of the Caribbean islands Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, which are now considered “special municipalities” of the Netherlands; Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten being autonomous States within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, each having its own independent Intellectual Property Office. The Dutch Patents Act 1995 also applies to Curaçao and Sint Maarten, with the exception of Chapter 7 relating to Supplementary Protection Certificates.
| Patent Statistics | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| National patent applications filed: | 2,606 | 2,519 | 2,678 |
| National patents granted: | 2,056 | 2,010 | 1,936 |
| EPO granted patents in which NL is designated: | 101,563 | 124,216 | 135,636 |
| EPO granted patents validated in NL: | 23,816 | 28,650 | 27,592 |
| Patents in force: | 188,893 | 213,408 | n.a. |
| Applications for Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs): | 63 | 41 | n.a. |
| Supplementary Protection Certificates granted: | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| PCT applications by Dutch applicants: | n.a. | n.a. | 4,011 |
| EP applications by Dutch applicants: | n.a. | n.a. | 6,954 |
| Depots of original topographies of semiconductor products: | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Source: www.rvo.nl | |||
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