Caribbean Netherlands

The **Caribbean Netherlands** () is the part of the Netherlands that is in the Caribbean. The rest of the country is in Europe. The Caribbean Netherlands is made up of three special municipalities (**'): the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. They are also called the **BES islands'''.

The Caribbean Netherlands does not include the other Dutch countries in the Caribbean (Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten). Those are three of the four countries that make up the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The fourth country is the Netherlands proper. The islands of the Caribbean Netherlands are fully part of the Netherlands proper. They were made a part of the Netherlands when the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved (broken apart) on 10 October 2010.

Although the islands are now part of the Netherlands, they are not yet part of the European Union. They will instead remain overseas territories until at least 2015. They are different to other municipalities in the Netherlands. Unlike normal municipalities, they do not form part of a Dutch province.

Bonaire is located east of Aruba and Curaçao, close to the coast of Venezuela. Sint Eustatius and Saba are located south of Sint Maarten and northwest of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The BES islands have a total population of 21,000 and a total area of .

|style="width:40px;" class="unsortable"|Flag|style="width:100px;"|Name|style="width:100px;"|Capital <small>(and largest city)</small>|style="width:60px;"|Area <small>(km²)</small>|width="70px"|Population <small>(31-12-2010)</small>|style="width:80px;"|Density <small>(per km²)</small>|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:left;"||||||||||||
||Bonaire|Kralendijk|294|15,666|53|||||||
||Sint Eustatius|Oranjestad|21|3,543|169|||||||
||Saba|The Bottom|13|1,824|140|||||||
|}||||||||||||

## Other websites

- Official website of the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Caribbean Netherlands
- **image flag**: Flag of the Netherlands.svg
- **flag link**: Flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
- **image shield**: Royal Coat of Arms of the Netherlands.svg
- **shield link**: Coat of arms of the Netherlands
- **image map**: BES islands location map.svg
- **mapsize**: 300px
- **map caption**: Location of the Caribbean Netherlands (green and circled)
 in the Caribbean. From left to right: Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius.
- **elevation max m**: 870
- **elevation max footnotes**:

- **demographics type1**: Languages
- **demographics1 title1**: Official
- **demographics1 info1**: Dutch language, Dutch
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: Netherlands
- **subdivision type1**: Municipalities
- **established title**: Made a part of the Netherlands
- **established date**: 10 October 2010
- **leader title**: National Rep.
- **leader name**: Wilbert Stolte
- **leader title1**: Lieutenant governor, Lt. Governors
- **area total km2**: 328
- **area note**: ( of the Netherlands)
- **population total**: 21133
- **population as of**: 2010
- **population note**: ( of the Netherlands)
- **population density km2**: auto
- **timezone**: Atlantic Standard Time, AST
- **utc offset**: −4
- **area code type**: Telephone numbers in the Caribbean Netherlands, Calling code
- **area code**: +599
- **blank name sec1**: Currency
- **blank info sec1**: US dollar (`ISO 4217, USD`)
- **blank name sec2**: Country code top-level domain, Internet TLD
- **blank info sec2**: .nl, .an,<sup>a</sup> .bq <sup>b</sup>
- **footnotes**: a. Probably to be discontinued.
b. Assigned but not used.<big></big>