Economy of the Netherlands

The economy of the Netherlands is a highly developed market economy focused on Trade and Logistics, Manufacturing, Services, Innovation and Technology and Sustainable and Renewable Energy. It is the world's 18th largest economy by nominal GDP and the 28th largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) and is the fifth largest economy in European Union by nominal GDP. It has the world's 11th highest per capita GDP (nominal) and the 13th highest per capita GDP (PPP) as of 2023 making it one of the highest earning nations in the world. Many of the world's largest tech companies are based in its capital Amsterdam or have established their European headquarters in the city, such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Cisco, Uber, Netflix and Tesla. Its second largest city Rotterdam is a major trade, logistics and economic center of the world and is Europe's largest seaport. Netherlands is ranked fifth on global innovation index and fourth on the Global Competitiveness Report.

The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy, which depends heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable industrial relations, fairly low unemployment and inflation, a sizable current account surplus (which, compared to the size of the country, is even more than Germany) and an important role as a European transportation hub; Rotterdam is the biggest port in Europe; and Amsterdam has one of the biggest airports in the world. Industrial activity is predominantly in food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, high-tech, financial services, the creative sector and electrical machinery. Its highly mechanized agricultural sector employs no more than 2% of the labor force but provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry and for exports. The Netherlands, along with 11 of its EU partners, began circulating the euro currency on 1 January 2002.

The Netherlands has had steady natural gas resources since 1959, when a wellspring was discovered. Currently the Netherlands accounts for more than 25% of all natural gas reserves in the European Union. Over the following decades, the sale of natural gas generated a significant rise in revenue for the Netherlands. However, the unforeseen consequences of the country's energy wealth originally impacted the competitiveness of other sectors of the economy, leading to the theory of Dutch disease, after the discovery of the vast Groningen gas field.

The Netherlands is a "conduit country" that helps to funnel profits from high-tax countries to tax havens. It has been ranked as the 4th largest tax haven in the World.

The stern financial policy was abandoned in 2009, because of the then-current credit crises. The relatively large banking sector was partly nationalized and bailed out through government interventions. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.0% in the summer of 2011, but increased with a sharp rate to 7.3% in May 2013, and 6.8% in 2015. It dropped again to 3.9% in March 2018. The state budget deficit was about 2.2% in 2015, well below the norm of 3.0% in the EU. In 2016, the state budget showed a surplus of 0.4%. It was expected to grow to a surplus of over 1.0% in 2017. Historically, the Dutch introduced and invented the stock market, which initially focused on merchandise trading through the Dutch East India Company. The Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union, the OECD and the World Trade Organization.