Showing posts with label The Netherlands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Netherlands. Show all posts

Friday, February 25, 2011

Welcome to the New CaliNetherlands, :)

It's 2011 and CaliNetherlands is being brought back to life. The website was initially created at the beginning of 2007, as part of CaliWorldFriends, in the attempt to create a separate website for each country of the world. Indeed, in 2007 this site was created and a short introduction was written. Now, we've added some relevant research information about The Netherlands from the CIA World Factbook, including geography, people, and a brief historical background.
We've also made changes to the template and added more graphics, and news feeds to help inform our visitors further on this beautiful, intriguing country.

What features would you like to see included on this website? Add your comments below and we'll do our best to enhance the site in the near future.

Thank you for visiting Cali Netherlands,

Ioan Elvis Sersea, M.A., M.A.T. aka MaestroSersea
Founder of CaliWorldFriends, part of Teach Me Help Me Educational Services

Introduction to The Netherlands

Background the Netherlands:

The Dutch United Provinces declared their independence from Spain in 1579; during the 17th century, they became a leading seafaring and commercial power, with settlements and colonies around the world. After a 20-year French occupation, a Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed in 1815. In 1830 Belgium seceded and formed a separate kingdom. The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I, but suffered invasion and occupation by Germany in World War II. A modern, industrialized nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products. The country was a founding member of NATO and the EEC (now the EU), and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999. In October 2010, the former Netherlands Antilles was dissolved and the three smallest islands - Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba - became special municipalities in the Netherlands administrative structure. The larger islands of Sint Maarten and Curacao joined the Netherlands and Aruba as constituent countries forming the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The People of The Netherlands

Learn about the people of the Neatherlands with this informative list of demographics information from the CIA World Factbook.

The Netherlands Population: 16,783,092 (July 2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 59

Age structure: 0-14 years: 17.4% (male 1,485,873/female 1,416,999) 15-64 years: 67.7% (male 5,720,387/female 5,604,014) 65 years and over: 14.9% (male 1,070,496/female 1,418,230) (2010 est.)

Median age: total: 40.8 years male: 40 years female: 41.6 years (2010 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.39% (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 164

Birth rate: 10.3 births/1,000 population (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 189

Death rate: 8.78 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 77

Net migration rate: 2.38 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 34

Urbanization: urban population: 82% of total population (2008) rate of urbanization: 0.9% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.052 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2010 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 4.66 deaths/1,000 live births country comparison to the world: 193 male: 5.16 deaths/1,000 live births female: 4.12 deaths/1,000 live births (2010 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 79.55 years country comparison to the world: 34 male: 76.94 years female: 82.3 years (2010 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.66 children born/woman (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 174

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.2% (2007 est.) country comparison to the world: 98

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 18,000 (2007 est.) country comparison to the world: 82

HIV/AIDS - deaths: fewer than 200 (2007 est.) country comparison to the world: 106

Nationality: noun: Dutchman(men), Dutchwoman(women) adjective: Dutch

Ethnic groups: Dutch 80.7%, EU 5%, Indonesian 2.4%, Turkish 2.2%, Surinamese 2%, Moroccan 2%, Caribbean 0.8%, other 4.8% (2008 est.)

Religions: Roman Catholic 30%, Dutch Reformed 11%, Calvinist 6%, other Protestant 3%, Muslim 5.8%, other 2.2%, none 42% (2006)

Languages: Dutch (official), Frisian (official)

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% (2003 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education): total: 17 years male: 17 years female: 17 years (2008)

Education expenditures: 5.5% of GDP (2006) country comparison to the world: 45

The Netherlands Geography and Environment

The Netherlands Location: Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between Belgium and Germany

Geographic coordinates: 52 30 N, 5 45 E

Map references: Europe

The Netherlands Area: total: 41,543 sq km country comparison to the world: 134 land: 33,893 sq km water: 7,650 sq km

The Netherlands Area - comparative: slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey

The Netherlands Land boundaries: total: 1,027 km border countries: Belgium 450 km, Germany 577 km

The Netherlands Coastline: 451 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm

Climate: temperate; marine; cool summers and mild winters

Terrain: mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (polders); some hills in southeast

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Zuidplaspolder -7 m highest point: Mount Scenery 862 m (on the island of Saba in the Caribbean, now considered an integral part of the Netherlands following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles) note: the highest point on continental Netherlands is Vaalserberg at 322 m

Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, peat, limestone, salt, sand and gravel, arable land

Land use: arable land: 21.96% permanent crops: 0.77% other: 77.27% (2005)

Irrigated land: 5,650 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources: 89.7 cu km (2005)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural): total: 8.86 cu km/yr (6%/60%/34%) per capita: 544 cu m/yr (2001)

Natural hazards: flooding

The Netherlands Environment - current issues: water pollution in the form of heavy metals, organic compounds, and nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates; air pollution from vehicles and refining activities; acid rain

The Netherlands Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Kyoto Protocol, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note: located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine, Maas or Meuse, and Schelde)