Europe · Western Europe

Netherlands

Netherlands covers about 37,100 km² (14,300 mi²), the 137th largest of the 246 places listed here. That is close to Taiwan, at about 36,200 km².

37,100km²Area, main territory
17.9 millionPopulation
1.21In Belgiums

50 km

Netherlands

The outline shows the main territory. Overseas parts, about 295 km² in all, are counted in the figure “with overseas territory” below but are not drawn.

Facts

Area, main territory	37,100 km²14,300 mi²
Area with overseas territory	37,400 km²14,400 mi²
Official area	37,400 km²Wikidata · agrees with our measure
In Belgiums	1.21
Capital	Amsterdam
Population	17.9 millionWikidata, 2024
Density	480 people per km²
Latitude range	51°N to 54°N
In other languages	Países Bajos Español · Niederlande Deutsch · Pays-Bas Français · Países Baixos Português · オランダ日本語 · 荷兰中文 · 네덜란드 한국어
Continent	Europe#31 of 50 countries by area

What the numbers say about Netherlands

Russia, the largest place listed, is 458× the size of Netherlands.
Netherlands ranks 67th of 237 by population but only 136th of 239 by area: it holds more people than its size suggests.
At 480 people per km², Netherlands is the 11th most densely populated of the 185 places over 1,000 km²; the median is 72 per km².
On a standard web map (Web Mercator), a place at 52°N is drawn about 2.7× too large in area, so Netherlands looks bigger there than it is.
Laid out flat, Netherlands's main territory stretches about 307 km north to south and 263 km east to west.
Counting overseas territory, Netherlands grows from 37,100 km² to 37,400 km², 0.8% more.
Wikidata's official figure of 37,400 km² agrees with our measured area of 37,400 km², to within 2%.

How Netherlands measures up

Netherlands holds 0.2% of the land area and 2.4% of the people of the 50 countries listed for Europe. In Western Europe it is the 5th largest of 9.

Where it ranks	Figure	Position
Area	37,100 km²	136th of 239
Population	17.9 million	67th of 237
Density	480 per km²	11th of 185
Farthest north	52.3°N	17th of 212

Compared with	Its area	Netherlands is
Belgium	30,700 km²	1.21× its size
United Kingdom	244,000 km²	0.15× its size
Germany	358,000 km²	0.10× its size
Japan	374,000 km²	0.10× its size
France	548,000 km²	0.07× its size
India	3,151,000 km²	0.01× its size
Brazil	8,473,000 km²	1 in 228 its size
United States	9,447,000 km²	1 in 255 its size
Russia	16,980,000 km²	1 in 458 its size

Where Netherlands sits

Netherlands's centre lies at 52.3°N, 5.6°E, in the northern and eastern hemispheres, about 5,810 km from the equator.
Its main territory spans 51°N to 54°N, about 310 km from its southern edge to its northern.

Closest neighbours, by distance between centres

If Netherlands had other densities

At Bangladesh's density of 1,252 people per km², Netherlands would have 46.8 million people. It has 17.9 million.
At Canada's density of 3.7 people per km², Netherlands would have 139,000 people. It has 17.9 million.
At the median density of the places listed, 72 per km², it would have 2.7 million.

About the same size as

Largest in Europe

Compare Netherlands

Sources and method

Outline: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 0 - Countries, public domain
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. Main territory: the landmass and every part within 1,000 km of it.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outline, shown rounded
Official figures: Area, population and capital from Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-11
Population: Wikidata, 2024; covers the whole country, overseas territory included
Data built: 2026-11-11

Full method