Quality of life comparison

compared to

If you lived in Netherlands instead of Belgium, you would:

Economy

be 35.4% less likely to be unemployed

In Belgium, 5.5% of adults are unemployed as of 2023. In Netherlands, that number is 3.6% as of 2023.

be 17.9% more likely to live below the poverty line

In Belgium, 12.3% live below the poverty line as of 2022. In Netherlands, however, that number is 14.5% as of 2021.

Life

be 20.0% less likely to die during childbirth

In Belgium, approximately 5.0 women per 100,000 births die during labor as of 2020. In Netherlands, 4.0 women do as of 2020.

Expenditures

spend 20.9% less on education

Belgium spends 6.7% of its total GDP on education as of 2020. Netherlands spends 5.3% of total GDP on education as of 2020.

Geography

see 6.8 times more coastline

Belgium has a total of 66 km of coastline. In Netherlands, that number is 451 km.

The statistics above were calculated using the following data sources: The World Factbook.

Netherlands: At a glance

Netherlands is a sovereign country in Europe, with a total land area of approximately 33,893 sq km. The Dutch United Provinces declared their independence from Spain in 1579; during the 17th century, they became a leading seafaring and commercial power, with settlements and colonies around the world. After a 20-year French occupation, a Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed in 1815. In 1830 Belgium seceded and formed a separate kingdom. The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I, but suffered invasion and occupation by Germany in World War II. A modern, industrialized nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products. The country was a founding member of NATO and the EEC (now the EU) and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999. In October 2010, the former Netherlands Antilles was dissolved and the three smallest islands - Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba - became special municipalities in the Netherlands administrative structure. The larger islands of Sint Maarten and Curacao joined the Netherlands and Aruba as constituent countries forming the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
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How big is Netherlands compared to Belgium? See an in-depth size comparison.

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