Geography Quiz Arcade

Netherlands 🇳🇱

Netherlands is a country in Europe with a population of 17,564,014. Its capital is Amsterdam. The official currency is EUR, and the main languages are Dutch.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Amsterdam
  • Continent: Europe
  • Population: 17,564,014
  • Area: 41,850 km²
  • Density: 420 people per km²
  • Currency: EUR
  • Languages: Dutch
  • ISO code: NL

Where Netherlands sits

Netherlands 🇳🇱 is one of 46 countries in Europe, with its capital at Amsterdam. It covers 41,850 square kilometres — 131st in the world — and is home to about 17,564,014 people, 71st globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Netherlands compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Netherlands sits closest to Somalia and Chad. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Switzerland and Denmark.

At 420 people per square kilometre it is about 7.1 times the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

Dutch is an official language in 3 countries here, among them Belgium and Suriname. The EUR is shared with 25 other countries, including Andorra, Austria and Belgium, and 22 others.

To see Netherlands next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Netherlands

Amsterdam means 'dam in the Amstel', after the river it grew up around. It is the capital, but the government and the royal family are based in The Hague. For the flag, remember that the red stripe started out orange.

The flag of Netherlands: red, white and blue

🇳🇱 The flag is three horizontal stripes of red, white and blue. The colours come from William I, Prince of Orange. The top stripe was first orange, but the orange dye faded to red over time, so red became the permanent colour.

Region and neighbours

Netherlands is a low, flat country in northwestern Europe, on the coast of the North Sea. It shares land borders with 2 countries: Belgium and Germany.

Three facts about Netherlands

  1. The name Netherlands means 'lower countries', and about 26% of the country is below sea level.
  2. After a great flood in 1953, the Dutch built the Delta Works, a huge set of flood defences along the coast, which took more than 40 years to complete.
  3. About a quarter of all trips in the Netherlands are made by bicycle.

Sources: Wikipedia: Netherlands, Wikipedia: Flag of the Netherlands, Wikipedia: Amsterdam, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Netherlands

Quizzes that include Netherlands

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Netherlands those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Netherlands

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Netherlands flag?

The flag of Netherlands is three horizontal stripes of red, white and blue. The colours come from William I, Prince of Orange. The top stripe was first orange, but the orange dye faded to red over time, so red became the permanent colour.

Which countries border Netherlands?

Netherlands shares land borders with Belgium and Germany.

How can I remember the capital of Netherlands?

Amsterdam means 'dam in the Amstel', after the river it grew up around. It is the capital, but the government and the royal family are based in The Hague. For the flag, remember that the red stripe started out orange.