Kingdom of the Netherlands continent Europe
The Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; pronounced [ˈkoːnɪŋkrɛiɡ dɛr ˈneːdərlɑndə(n)] (listen)), commonly known as simply the Netherlands, is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with 98% of its territory and population in Western Europe and with several small West Indian island territories in the Caribbean (in the Leeward Islands and Leeward Antilles groups).
The four parts of the Kingdom—Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands and Sint Maarten—are constituent countries (landen in Dutch; singular: land) and participate on a basis of equality as partners in the Kingdom. In practice, however, most of the Kingdom's affairs are administered by the Netherlands—which comprises roughly 98% of the Kingdom's land area and population—on behalf of the entire Kingdom. Consequently, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are dependent on the Netherlands for matters like foreign policy and defence, but are autonomous to a certain degree, with their own parliaments.
The vast majority of land area of the constituent country of the Netherlands is in Europe, while its three special municipalities (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) are located in the Caribbean, as are the other three constituent countries. The kingdom has a population in the Netherlands of 17,821,419 (as of January 2023), and of 9,543 (as of January 2022) in Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius.
mainland landmass landform mass terra firma