Map:

Overview:
The 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.

The People:
Population: 16,407,491 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 18.1% (male 1,523,316/female 1,453,232)
15-64 years: 67.8% (male 5,627,007/female 5,491,802)
65 years and over: 14.1% (male 974,037/female 1,338,097) (2005 est.)

Religions:
Roman Catholic 31%, Dutch Reformed 13%, Calvinist 7%, Muslim 5.5%, other 2.5%, none 41% (2002)

Government Type:
constitutional monarchy

Leader(s) to pray for:
chief of state: Queen BEATRIX (since 30 April 1980); Heir Apparent WILLEM-ALEXANDER (born 27 April 1967), son of the monarch
head of government: Prime Minister Jan Peter BALKENENDE (since 22 July 2002) and Deputy Prime Ministers Gerrit ZALM (since 27 May 2003) and Laurens Jan BRINKHORST (since 31 March 2005)

Source: The World Factbook

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