Here are 55 amazing Netherlands facts.
1-5 Netherlands Facts
1. There is a secured village in the Netherlands specifically for people with dementia, where they can act out a normal life while being monitored and assisted by caretakers in disguise. – Source
2. The Netherlands closed eight prisons due to lack of criminals. – Source
3. The Netherlands voted “Swaffelen” as their word of the year in 2008. It means to repeatedly smack one’s p*nis against someone or something. – Source
4. The IKEA HQ in Delft, Netherlands had to stop offering their €1 breakfast during the weekends because the highways couldn’t handle the traffic it attracted. – Source
5. Holland is only a province within the Netherlands, not another name for the country. – Source
6-10 Netherlands Facts
6. There is an American military cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. On Memorial Day each year, every last grave is “adopted” by a Dutch family that lays flowers over the site. – Source
7. Scientists in the Netherlands are developing an ocean cleaning system which uses the ocean’s currents and a barrier to remove plastic waste. A 100 km long system will be deployed in 2020 to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. – Source
8. In the Netherlands, citizens with disabilities receive public money to pay for sexual services up to 12 times a year. – Source
9. A supermarket chain in the Netherlands has a policy that if all queues have 4 people in them and not all checkout lanes are open yet, then you get your groceries for free. – Source
10. For one day in 1940 a section of a hospital in Ottawa, Canada became international territory so a Dutch Princess could be born a full Dutch citizen (a requirement to be a Dutch Princess). Every year the Netherlands sends Canada a gift of tulips to show their gratitude. – Source
11-15 Netherlands Facts
11. The crown princess of the Netherlands goes to a public school. – Source
12. In the Netherlands, there is an entire neighborhood with names out of the Tolkien stories. – Source
13. The Netherlands has drug testing spots where people can (anonymously) get all their drugs tested for free. – Source
14. The Netherlands is the only country in the world where it is compulsory for everyone to have private health insurance. Premiums are not based on age or health status, but on income & are on average €100 per month. – Source
15. The Netherlands built “Smart Highways” which glow in the dark lane markings – symbols that illuminate the road when adverse conditions appear. – Source
16-20 Netherlands Facts
16. Netherlands is the 2nd largest exporter of agricultural goods behind the USA, with exports earning $79 billion in 2013. They export two-thirds of the world’s fresh-cut plants, flowers, and flower bulbs. – Source
17. One of the longest wars in history, between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly, lasted from 1651 to 1986. There were no casualties. – Source
18. Netherlands and France share a land border. It’s in the Caribbean on Saint Martin – the smallest inhabited island divided between two countries. – Source
19. The Netherlands has a defense system where they can turn the provinces of North and South Holland into an island by flooding any potential crossings into the province. – Source
20. Assisted suicide is legal in the Netherlands. – Source
21-25 Netherlands Facts
21. The village of Giethoorn in the Netherlands has no roads. People get around on foot or via one of the village’s many canals. – Source
22. A member of the WWII Canadian forces, Leo Major, single-handedly captured 93 Nazi‘s at once and liberated a town in the Netherlands on his own as well. – Source
23. An orangutan named Sibu at a zoo in Apeldoorn, Netherlands rejected all attempts made for him to mate with female orangutans. He only exhibited sexual interest in his human female caretakers with a particular penchant for the blonde ones with tattoos. – Source
24. The Netherlands is the third-largest direct foreign investor in the United States. – Source
25. The Welsh town Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is twinned with Y in France and Ee in the Netherlands. – Source
26-30 Netherlands Facts
26. Despite being legal, the rate of Cannabis use by the general population in the Netherlands is lower than the rate in the United States. – Source
27. The leaders of the Netherlands, UK, France, and Italy were among those who opposed German reunification in 1989-1990; the Italian prime minister said, “I love Germany so much that I prefer to see two of them.” The Irish and US governments were among the few to support reunification. – Source
28. Johanna Westerdijk was the first female professor in the Netherlands. She told her school teacher she would make enough to pay someone to do her chores, was a noted party animal, and started a tradition of dressing geese in costumes and parading them around at university events. – Source
29. The largest mountain in the Netherlands is located in the Caribbean. – Source
30. The Netherlands give out free heroin to addicts who didn’t respond well to other treatments. – Source
44. The Netherlands are at a war with water; they have to constantly pump water (usually with windmills) back into the North Sea, or else it could engulf the entire country.’
Not true, normal (electrical) pumps are used.
#42. Those are called escape rooms and they have quite a few of them in the US as well. Almost in every major city.
5: Well, sh*t, that’s actually how we call it in Brazillian Portuguese (Holanda) I couldn’t tell which country Netherlands was the first time I read it.