Netherlands 2015

By | December 1, 2021

Demographics and economic geography

Western European state. As of 1 November 2014, the population of the Netherlands amounted, according to an estimate by the National Statistics Office, to 16,902,103 residents (16,802,463 residents, According to an estimate by UNDESA, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2014), continuing the upward trend, albeit slight, of recent years. At the origin of this trend there is not a positive balance of the natural increase as that of the migratory flow: now one fifth of the population residing in the Netherlands has foreign origins, a fact that makes them the country with the highest percentage of immigrants in Europe, after Switzerland. The Turkish and Moroccan communities are the most numerous, followed by that made up of people originally from the former colony of Suriname (formerly Dutch Guiana). Recently there has been a massive influx of Poles, which almost quadrupled in the decade 2004-14 (from 35,542 to 123,003 individuals). In terms of immigration, the situation in Rotterdam is significant, where approximately one third of the residents are foreigners.

The population density has always been much higher than the European average, with record peaks in the Randstad Holland region, where the large urban centers of The Hague are concentrated (655,605 residents in its urban agglomeration, at the end of 2013), Amsterdam (1,107,670), Utrecht (487,333) and Rotterdam (1,012,809). The urban framework of the Netherlands therefore continues to be characterized by an imbalance between the geographical center of the country and the two outermost regions (Noord-Nederland and Zuid-Nederland), in which agricultural production, floriculture and animal husbandry are concentrated. in the foreground.

Like most European countries, Netherlands also paid for the economic and social effects of the international financial crisis that exploded in 2007. Some credit institutions boasted very high levels of exposure in securities issued by US banks; therefore, in 2008 the government had to intervene by nationalizing two large institutions and injecting liquidity into the banking system to contain the crisis, which was very dangerous for a country heavily dependent on trade and international finance.

The labor market reacted to the difficulties of the production system by raising the share of employees with atypical forms of contract. The consequences of this structural change, however, have not been as negative as in other European countries, thanks to the effective and extensive system of social safety nets which has substantially withstood the test, despite the policy of containing public spending initiated to deal with the crisis. Overall, the action of the State in terms of the labor market and more generally of social protection represents a reference model for the rest of Europe. Equally advanced is the civil rights system, which has continued to experience progressive legislative extensions in a country that has already been at the forefront of authorizing euthanasia and the legal recognition ofmarital status for homosexual couples, with the possibility of adoption.

A peculiar sector of the Netherlands economy, of relative importance in general terms, but widely known abroad and constantly growing, is that of synthetic drugs, of which the country is the largest European producer and the largest consumer, thanks to favorable anti-prohibitionist legislation (the use of soft drugs is freely allowed to every adult).

The Dutch continue to show a marked environmental sensitivity, both at the level of government choices (highlighted, for example, by the low CO 2 emissions and the extension of the surface of the protected areas) and individual customs (the consumption of organic food is among the highest in Europe). The high diffusion of clean energy sources should also be noted, encouraged by the government’s environmental policy, which has decided, among other measures, to reduce the production of natural gas.

The Netherlands host important hubs of the international transport network in the aeronautical and maritime sectors, both with reference to the traffic of people and that of goods. The port of Rotterdam, with its 80 km of docks, is confirmed as the first in Europe and continues to grow (container traffic went from 6,275,000 TEU in 2000 to 11,877,000 in 2011); the traffic of petroleum products fed by this port makes the Netherlands one of the most active centers of the world market in the sector. Amsterdam Airport, Schiphol, was the fourth European airport by number of passengers in 2012, with more than 50 million transits. With regard to the administrative system, it should be noted that in 2010, following a referendum, the new status was sanctioned of the former Netherlands Antilles: Curaçao and Sint Maarten have obtained the legal status of constituted nation (with their own constitution, parliament, administration and currency), while Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustasius have become municipalities with special status in the scope of the Netherlands.

Economic and social indicators

History of Ilenia Rossini. – At the turn of the first decade of the 21st century. the main themes of the Dutch political debate continued to be the reform of the welfare state, the growing euro-skepticism, migration policies and the strong xenophobic and anti-Islamic sentiments increasingly widespread in the country. They were mainly interpreted by a new political formation, the PVV (Partij Voor de Vrijheid, Party for Freedom), founded by the far-right militant Geert Wilders in 2006 and based on a marked Euroscepticism, anti-Islamism and populist rhetoric. and nationalist.

The November 2006 elections had seen the affirmation of the CDA (Christen Democratisch Appèl, Christian-Democratic Appeal) as the first party (26.5%, 41 seats), followed by the Labor Party of the PVDA (Partij Van De Arbeid, Labor Party, 21.2%, 33 seats) and by the liberals of the VVD (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, 14.6%, 22 seats), while the newborn PVV had achieved a good result (5, 9%, 9 seats). At the beginning of 2007 a new coalition government was formed between the CDA, the PVDA and the small Christian Union (CU, Christen Unie), led, like the previous executives, by Jan Peter Balkenende (CDA). To satisfy the growing public opposition to the continuation of the Netherlands military’s stay in the mission in Afghānistān, which began in 2003, the new government announced the return of the national contingent by 2008, a term then postponed to 2010 under pressure from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). In 2010, due to PVDA’s opposition to the CDA’s proposal to further extend the mission in Afghānistān (as well as its opposition to austerity measures and the increase in the retirement age), the executive fell. For Netherlands military, please check militarynous.com.

The new elections (June 2010) saw a good result for the PVV (15.5%, 24 seats), which had based the electoral campaign on widespread anti-immigrant sentiments. The CDA, on the other hand, suffered a drastic drop in consensus (13.7%, 21 seats) and was surpassed both by the pro-European liberals of the VVD (20.4%, 31 seats), and by the PVDA (19.6%, 30 seats).). The uncertain electoral result opened a period of stalemate for the formation of the new government: the CDA was, in fact, too hostile to the anti-immigration positions of the PVV to form a coalition with it. Only four months later Mark Rutte (VVD) managed to form a minority government with the CDA, also obtaining the parliamentary support of Wilders’ party. The new government focused above all on making good the budget deficit through measures of austerity such as raising the retirement age and, influenced by the PVV, he designed measures that banned the full veil for Muslim women and introduced restrictions on the entry of non-EU immigrants and on the fulfillment of asylum requests. However, following the refusal of the PVV to vote on the austerity measures necessary to bring the Dutch public debt within the limits set by the European Stability Pact, Rutte was forced to resign (April 2012).

In the elections of September 2012, the VVD still prevailed (26.5%, 41 seats), followed by the PVDA (24.7%, 38 seats), while the PVV reported a drastic drop in consensus (10.1%, 15 seats). The new government – a grand VVDPVDA coalition – was formed in November 2012, again led by Rutte. Despite the different views of the parties, at the end of 2013 an agreement was reached on the state budget for 2014, which provided for strong cuts in the welfare state to better cope with the global economic crisis, and on the increase in the retirement age, passed in the Senate thanks to the support of three smaller opposition parties. Meanwhile, after the decrease in the electoral consensus of the PVV, the fortunes of Wilders had a further decline in December 2014, when the Dutch justice opened a proceeding against him for incitement to racial hatred.

On 30 April 2013, with the name of William Alexander, the eldest son of Queen Beatrix, who had abdicated in her favor, ascended the throne.

Netherlands 2015