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In
a country where you can get a sex change on the national health
scheme, and where Hilde and her two dads can share a joint
to celebrate that she likes boys too, why does the washing
up always get done straight after dinner? The Netherlands
has managed to combine liberal attitudes with one of the most
orderly societies on earth, in a community that manages to
be radical and sensible without being silly or staid. The
Dutch aren't bogged in their clichés, even though bikes,
dykes, windmills and blazing flower fields are pretty much
the norm outside the major cities.
For
travellers, the integration of the clog and the microchip
works well. The Netherlands is easy to travel in and the locals
are friendly and speak excellent English, but towns are still
surrounded by canals and castle walls, the endlessly flat
landscape which inspired the nation's early artists still
stretches unbroken to the horizons, and the dykes still occasionally
threaten to give way.
Full
country name: Kingdom of the Netherlands
Area: 41,526 sq km
Population: 16,105,000
Capital city: Amsterdam (population 735,500)
People: Over 95% of the population are Dutch (Germanic and
Gallo-Celtic stock), most of the rest are Indonesian, Surinamese
or Moroccan
Languages: Netherlandic (Dutch & Flemish), Friesian
Religion: 60% Christian (Roman Catholic and Protestant), 3%
Muslim
Government: Constitutional monarchy
Head of state: Queen Beatrix van Oranje Nassau
Prime Minister: Jan Peter Balkenende
GDP:
US$350 billion
GDP per head: US$22,000
Annual growth: 3.7%
Inflation: 2%
Major industries: service industries, banking, electronics,
digital media, horticulture, agriculture, shipping
Major trading partners: EU (esp Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg,
France, UK), USA
Member of EU: yes
Euro zone participant: yes
Netherlands
Flight from UK
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