General Information

Capital:

Amsterdam 724,096 (1994 est.)

The Hague is the seat of government

Area:

41,532 sq km (16,033 sq mi)

Form of government

Constitutional Monarchy

GDP per capita

Purchasing power parity-$23,100 (1999 est.)

Population

15,807,641 (July 1999 est.)

Ethnic composition

Dutch - 94%

Other - 6%

Moroccans, Turks, Surinamers, Cape Verdians

Official Language(s)

Dutch

Minority Language(s)

Frisian, Low-Saxon varieties, Limburgish, Yiddish, Romany, Turkish, other

West Frisian is spoken in the province of Fryslan/Friesland, and in a few border villages in the neighboring province of Groningen. About 450,000 out of 600,000 Friesland inhabitants are able to speak Frisian. The number of Frisian speakers in the relevant part of Groningen may be about 3,000.

An estimated 1.8 million people in the Netherlands speak a variety of Low Saxon. These speakers live mostly in the provinces of Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel and Gelderland.

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