When you decide to come and study at HAN University of Applied Sciences, it is a good idea to collect information about the Netherlands.

This way you can find out what it will be like to live in this country as a student. The Netherlands, also known as Holland, may be small in size, but its economy and culture definitely are not!

Fun facts about the Netherlands

Did you know that...

• "The Netherlands" and "Holland" are used to describe the same country?
• One quarter of the Netherlands is below sea level?
• The International Court of Justice is at the Peace Palace in The Hague?
• The Netherlands has approximately 480 inhabitants per square kilometre?
• With only 0.008% of the world's area, the Netherlands is the world's third largest agricultural exporter?
• The Netherlands was one of the European Union's founding nations?
• The Netherlands has at least 15,000 km of cycle tracks?
• Dutch is also spoken in Belgium, northern France, Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba?
• The Netherlands still has about 1,000 traditional working windmills?
• The Dutch are the tallest people in Europe?
• Amsterdam is entirely built on piles?
• The Netherlands always has a coalition government, which makes it a country of compromises?
• The Netherlands has nearly 1,000 museums, with 42 in Amsterdam alone?
• Almost every Dutch person has a bicycle and there are twice as many bikes as cars?
• The Netherlands is the world's eighth largest exporter?
• People in Holland eat raw herring with onions on top?
• About 30% of all Dutch babies are born at home?
• You can see 22 paintings by Rembrandt and 206 by Van Gogh in Amsterdam?
• The Netherlands has the highest number of part-time workers in the EU (four in ten people)?
• The Netherlands' highest point is 323 metres high and is therefore called a " mountain"?
• You'll find a bunch of flowers in almost every Dutch living room?
• Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, but The Hague is the seat of government?
• Most Dutch people speak at least one foreign language?
• One in every three Dutch people belongs to a sports club?
• After Scandinavians, the Dutch are the world's biggest coffee drinkers?
• People of 200 nationalities live in Amsterdam?
• The Netherlands has one of the youngest populations in the EU?
• When your plane arrives at Schiphol, it lands 4.5 metres below sea level?
• The Netherlands has the highest cable density in Europe?
• Amsterdam has 1,281 bridges?
• When Dutch schoolchildren pass their exams, they hang a Dutch flag and a school bag outside their homes?

(source: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

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