The Netherlands

The Netherlands (in Dutch: Nederland) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in the North-West Europe and with parts in the Caribbean. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. Mainland Netherlands border the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. The capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague.

The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying country, with about 25% of its area and 21% of its population located below sea level, and 50% of its and land lying less than one meter above sea level. Significant land area has been gained through land reclamation and preserved through an elaborate system of polders and dikes. Most of the country is flat, with exception of the foothills in the far southeast and several low-hill ranges in the central parts. The BES island, or Carribean Netherlands, became part of the Netherlands proper after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010.

The Netherlands has a moderate maritime climate, with cool summers and mild winters. Ice days (maximum temperature below 0 °C) usually occur from December until February. Warm days (maximum temperature of 20 °C) are usually measured in the time span of April until September. Sumer days (maximum temperature above 25 °C) are usually measured from May until August.

The Netherlands has an estimated population of 16,491,852 (as of March 2009). It is the 11^th most populous country in Europe and the 61^st most populous country in the world. Life expectancy is high in the Netherlands: 79 years for newborn girls and 78 for boys.

The majority of the population of the Netherlands are ethnically Dutch. A 2005 estimate counted: 80,9% Dutch, 2,4% Indonesian, 2,4% German, 2,2% Turkish, 2,0% Surinamese, 2,0% Moroccan, 0,8% Antillean and Aruban and 6,0% others.

The official language is Dutch, which is spoken by the vast majority of the inhabitants. Another official language is Frisian, which is spoken in the northern province of Friesland. There is a tradition of learning foreign languages in the Netherlands: about 70% of the total population have good knowledge of conversational English, 55-59% of German, and 19% of French.

About approximately 4,5 million of the 16 million people in the Netherlands are registered to one of the 35,000  sports clubs. In the Netherlands, football, speed skating, korfball, handball, cycling and field hockey, volleyball, equestrian sports, sailing, and tennis are popular sports. A lot of amateurs practice them, and the Netherlands is a strong competitor in international tournaments for these sports.