Before moving to the Netherlands, I knew very little about the country and its complex history. I’ve since learned many interesting, and often surprising, facts about Dutch culture and the important role Holland and it’s capital city of Amsterdam have played in the globalization of the western world.
In this post, I’ve included 10 of the most fascinating facts about the Netherlands, including stats on the booming flower industry, insights into its ties to the founding (and naming of) New York, and misconceptions about the marijuana industry.
Related Posts:
- Tips for First-Time Visitors to the Netherlands
- 3 Days in Amsterdam: What to Do & Where to Eat
- Complete Guide to Amserdam’s Museum Passes
- 5 Not-to-Miss Museums in Amsterdam
- All other posts about the Netherlands
1. Marijuana is illegal in the Netherlands
First on the list is one of the biggest misconceptions about the Netherlands: marijuana is actually illegal in the Netherlands. The Dutch government does, however, officially tolerate the drug so long as it is bought/sold/used following certain guidelines, which include:
- Only licensed businesses, called coffeeshops, can sell marijuana. Many shops have closed in recent years due to new regulations that ban any coffeeshop located within 250 meters of a school. There are now only 175 coffeeshops in Amsterdam.
- Coffeeshops can only have 500g of the drug in-house at any one time. This means the busier or more popular establishments must have several small deliveries a day in order to keep up with demand while following the rules. Interestingly, coffeeshops are technically not allowed to buy marijuana, so they often use third-party suppliers to acquire and deliver on their behalf.
- The amount that can be sold to patrons is also limited to 5g per person. Police officers will also turn a blind eye to anyone possessing this amount or less.
- Marijuana-containing foods, or edibles, must be in the form of a cake, meaning all of the places claiming to sell weed lollipops are either operating illegal or are misrepresenting the product (meaning there’s no THC).
- The authorities also tolerate growing of marijuana plants, so long as the grower has only 5 plants or less.
Another surprising fact about the Netherlands is that very few Dutch people smoke marijuana despite it’s semi-legal status. According to a report from 2011, only 8% of Dutch people use the drug (vs 16.2% in the United States). The majority of smokers are tourists; around 25-30% of tourists that visit Amsterdam will spend time in a coffeeshop.
Click here to read more on Wikipedia.
2. The Netherlands is the world’s leading exporter of flowers
The Netherland’s is the biggest exporter of flowers in the world. In 2013, they exported 52% of the world’s cut flowers. Despite its small size, the Netherlands has a 44% share of worldwide trade in floricultural product (cut flowers, bulbs, etc.), which makes it the world’s leading supplier of flowers and flower-related products.
Some statistics on Holland’s flower industry include:
- The Aalsmeer flower auction is the largest flower market in the world. In 1995 the Dutch flower markets traded more than $3.2 billion in cut flowers and potted plants.
- Around 77% of all flower bulbs come from the Netherlands, the majority of which are of course Holland’s famous tulips.
- Dutch plant breeders are a leader in the industry. There are approximately 1,800 new plant varieties that enter the European market each year, and 65% of these are from the Netherlands.
- The Dutch are one of the largest seed exporters in the world, amounting to an astounding €3.1 billion in exported seeds in 2014.
- One of the largest gardens in the world, Keukenhof Gardens, is also located in the Netherlands and is just a short day trip from Amsterdam.
The Netherlands is also the second largest exporter of produce at almost $93 billion in exports in 2014. The United States was of course at #1 with $149 billion. Click here for the full list.
3. The Netherlands is the most densely populated country in Europe
Technically, the Netherlands is the most densely populated macro country in Europe, since several micro countries or territories (such as Vatican City, Gibraltar, or Malta) are considered more dense due to their small area. Nevertheless, it’s a surprising statistic given the amount of farmland and its relatively small cities.
The Netherlands is home to roughly 17 million people spread over it’s 41,526 km², which results in a density of 393 persons/km². Neighboring Belgium isn’t far behind at 337 persons/km², but the next runner-up is the United Kingdom at a much lower 267 persons/km².
Click here to see the full list.
4. Many places in New York were named by the Dutch
Before New York was New York, it was New Amsterdam, a small colony founded in the 17th century by the Dutch as a trading post and means to protect their fur trading route to the Hudson River. On September 8, 1664, the British captured the colony and renamed it New York in honor of the Duke of York, but many other places within and around the city kept their original Dutch names, only with slight respellings.
The names of three of the four neighborhoods of New York have Dutch roots: Brooklyn was originally Breukelen, Staten Island was Staten Land, and Harlem was Haarlem. Even the name Catskills comes from the original name Kats Kill, which means “cat creek” in Dutch. Some other recognizable names that were originally Dutch include:
- ‘t Lange Eiland → Long Island
- Boswijk → Bushwick
- Bouwerij → Bowery
- Brede Weg → Broadway
- Konijneneiland → Coney Island
- Vlissingen → Flushing
- Heemstede → Hempstead
- Bergen, Nassau, Schermerhorn, and Gansevoort have all remained with their original Dutch spellings.
5. The Netherlands is more diverse than New York City
Due to its long trading history and its reputation as a safe place for immigrants and asylum-seekers, the Netherlands is one of the most diverse places in the world. 1/4 of the country’s population is non-Dutch and around 12% is of non-Western origins.
These figures are even higher in urban areas. In fact, as of 2017 three of the Netherland’s major cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague) have more immigrants than native Dutch.
In the late-1940s and 1950s, Amsterdam had its first mass immigration when people came to the city from the newly independent Republic of Indonesia. Since then, many others have immigrated from Morocco, Turkey, Italy, Spain, and Suriname. In recent years, over 100,000 Syrians have been granted asylum in the Netherlands after fleeing their home country’s civil war. Immigrants to the Netherlands come from around 180 different cultural backgrounds, which surpasses even New York City.
Click here for the full statistics from the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek and here for more on the demographics of the Netherlands from Wikipedia.
6. The first stock market began in Amsterdam
In 1602, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was founded with the merging of several Dutch trading companies and became the world’s first megacorporation.
The VOC is considered to be the precursor for all modern corporations to come, but it was also the company that led to the world’s first stock market. After its founding, stock in the company was sold to individual investors, members of the general public, in exchange for a guarantee of a share in future profits. Shortly thereafter, a secondary market was established for shareholders to trade these shares. Prior to the founding of this market only commodity sharing was practiced, so the Dutch market is considered to be the first incarnation of today’s stock market.
7. The Netherlands is the second largest exporter of beer in the world
Up until 2010, the Netherlands was actually the largest exporter of beer, but in recent years Mexico has taken the lead. In 2017, the Netherlands exported $2 billion of beer, which accounts for 13.6% of total beer exports. Belgium and Germany take third and fourth place and the United States ranked as fifth with 5.2% of total beer exports (up 46% from the previous year).
Heineken is of course the most widely-recognized Dutch label and has a 1.5% share of the total beer volume market, making it the 7th best-selling beer brand in the world. At the time of its founding in 1873, the beer was brewed right in the heart of Amsterdam. Production has since moved out to western Holland, and the original building has been converted into a museum called the Heineken Experience where beer enthusiasts can take a 1.5-hour guided tour of the former brewery. In its 145+ years, Heineken has been sold in over 170 countries.
Click here for the full list of 2017 beer exports by country.
8. Amsterdammers cycle 2 million km (1.2 million mi) each day
When you think of Amsterdam, you’ll likely picture a rowdy Red Light District, serene canals, and lots and lots (and lots) of bikes. So it probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that over half of Amsterdam’s roughly 800,000 residents cycle on a daily basis. Nevertheless, the stats are still impressive! Here are a few of the numbers:
- There are 881,000 bikes in Amsterdam, which is more than 1 bike per person
- There are 767 km of bike paths/lanes
- There are 140 bike shops
- There are between 200,000 and 225,000 bike racks around the city
- There are roughly 10,000 bike parking spots around Centraal Station alone
With so many bikes on the road, it’s also a very safe place to cycle — the vast majority of bikers even forego a helmet. Even though an astounding 223 million bike journeys are made a year, your chances of being involved in a fatal cycling accident are quite low. Of the 10-20 fatal accidents occurring in the city each year, only 20-30% of these are cyclists.
9. The Dutch are some of the biggest consumers of coffee in the World
The Dutch consume around 8.4 kg of coffee per capita a year, which rank them as the fifth biggest coffee drinkers in the world. They are surpassed only by the Nordic countries of Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Denmark. For reference, the United States comes in at 26th place and the United Kingdom is at 45th. Click here for the full list of countries.
As a result, there are plenty of excellent coffee shops (not to be confused with the coffeeshops from fact #1) to try around Amsterdam. Some of my favorites are Koffie Academie, Bocca Coffee, and Lot Sixty One. Be sure to try the popular Flat White!
10. The Dutch are the tallest people in the world.
According to several studies, Dutch men and women both come in at #1 on the list of tallest people in the world. Men are 1.838m tall on average and women are 1.699m.
There is, however, much debate over how these “average height” studies are done. When studies are self-reported, for example, people tend to consider themselves taller than they actually are. There can also be a discrepancy depending on the time of day that a person is measured, as a person’s height can vary over the course of the day. One study showed that a group of children were on average 1.54 cm (or 0.61 in) taller in the morning than at the end of the day.
Regardless, the Dutch are consistently at the top of the list, as are many other Nordic countries, which leads me to wonder if I should be drinking more coffee…
Click here to see the full list of average human heights on Wikipedia.
