Why is The NETHERLANDS so RICH? - How it became the world's second largest exporter of food? 

Yup we're all incredibly rich! So rich that many of us won't be able to pay our bills in a couple of months :)

Being a german I have nothing but respect for the dutch people! They always have innovative business ideas and are great to work with. Plus they seem to be joyful and Open to new things. The netherlands are also a Great country to visit

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The Netherlands, the land where u pay tax for tax

Success appears to be related to activity. People that are successful never stop. They make errors yet they don't give up... We actually require multiple revenue sources as the severity of the economic crisis worsens. With the appropriate skills and knowledge of how the market operates, there are many opportunities to make a respectable living in the stock markets and the world of blockchain technology.

In Germany we call The Netherlands the 17th Bundesland. And that is meant as a compliment, because our im- and exports are on the highest level. It is a very well organized country and it is always ahead of many developments, and we profit from that. We have a great friendship.

I understand the challenges of economic difficulties, such as unemployment, job losses,inflation,housing crash,unstable government and the impact of conflicts and wars around the world. It can be tough to make ends meet during these times. To navigate through this difficult period, exploring alternative job opportunities, upgrading skills through online courses, and networking can increase your chances of finding employment. Additionally, budgeting wisely, exploring financial assistance programs, and seeking support from community organizations can provide some relief. How are you currently managing these challenges? Any specific strategies you've been using?

As a Dutch man I want you to know that on this moment there are roughly around 830.000 Dutch people that live beneath the poverty line of which 220.000 are children. It is estimated that in 2024 the total number of people living beneath the poverty line will be around 1 million. Given that we don't even have 18 million people living in the Netherlands, the number of people living beneath the poverty line is far bigger than you would think.

relative low taxes?!? must have been an extensive visit to the coffeeshop befor he said that...

Living in the Netherlands is really expensive. But if you fall in the lower class you can get a lot of support from the government which helps. However when you transition towards the 'middle' class the wealth gain is verry little compared to the effort you need to put in, because as you get more income and can start building wealth you end up gradually losing those benefits. Transitioning from the upper ends of the middle class to the high class is always a benefit because you have in most cases already lost all possible benefits you could get. This is one of the problems that the Netherlands is facing now and it is partially the cause of the workers shortages we are experiencing. Another issue we have is the housing of refugees that yield no actual invesment return, however this is kind of the obligation that a wealthy country should have to the world. Then we have our educational system which is decent when you get to the post highschool level, but in highschool and below the quality varies extremely from school to school because the regulations we have countrywide do not really (they do on paper, but in reality not that much) adress 'quality of education' and districts and provinces have a lot of independence from the country when deciding how to build their school infrastructure. The huge amount of land that the Netherlands uses to produce food is in part responsible for the lack of housing, the huge amount of nitrogen that is produced has put us at regulation limits. Since the building of houses also produces nitrogen there is little room left for us to keep building. But the Netherlands did export 104,7 Billion Euros worth of agriculture products in 2021. Still the biggest income for the Netherlands is income and salary tax. 22,48% of the total income that the Netherlands had in 2021 came from income taxes. This does not include the 12% of the countries income that we pay for Social healthcare on our income. So in essence 34,48% of the countries income comes from salary and income of the working individuals. It used to be worth it, but the prices keep going up in the netherlands and the quality of everything else is going down, despite the huge investments made in education and healthcare the quality has not gone up. In the best cases it stayed the same.

If you wanna be successful, you most take responsibility for your emotions, not place the blame on others. In addition to make you feel more guilty about your faults, pointing the finger at others will only serve to increase your sense of personal accountability. There's always a risk in every investment, yet people still invest and succeed. You must look outward if you wanna be successful in life.

Having got an MSc and PhD from Wageningen University, I think that greenhouse innovation is one of the most remarkable changes that took place in Dutch agriculture. Greenhouses used to require huge energy inputs for heating and lighting. Then, energy requirements started plummeting thanks to huge increases in efficiency. And now, greenhouses are on track to become energy producers. They harvest unneeded solar energy with solar panels and store heat for the winter. At the same time, they also give much higher yields for signature crops like tomatoes, as compared with countries warm enough to grow them outside in fields. This basically means that the Netherlands is now best at growing crops for which its climate isn't even naturally suited.

Rich my ass, as of right now 1/3 of the Dutch households are struggling to pay their bills and its about to get much worse with the high inflation.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands our government is pushing hard to destroy farming/agriculture with a new nitrogen policy which will cause ALOT of farmers to go bankrupt.

Actually, being from the Netherlands I have to say, at 1 in 13, the number of children growing up in poverty is alarmingly high for a rich country like the Netherlands. And due to inflation, the number of families with money problems is increasing even more. Yes there are opportunities and the government have installed multiple funds grants which citizens can use, but there is still a large amount of low class income families

The Netherlands as a country may be rich, but the people living in it aren't! So many people have a hard time paying their bills and getting food on the table for their family. And all the prices keep going up and up. Paying so many taxes which makes the people poor but the government (the Netherlands) rich..

Im just entering the workforce after finishing my MBA. Even with a higher education, life is fucking hard and money is tight. We're taxed for every action except breathing, inflation is insane and wages have stagnated. My generation will never own more than a toothbrush and a pillowcase. I hate my government and if I had the money I'd move away and never look back.

The country itself is rich, the citizens are getting poorer and poorer. We have a shitty government that really couldn't care less about the Dutch citizens.

As a Dutch person, I don’t know how, but I feel proud that this video exists, I told somebody I was from the Netherlands, and they legit answered “Where’s that?” Even this video I learned something new!

I strongly agree with you mate. Investment is the key to sustaining our financial longevity, and not just any investment but an investment with guaranteed return.

Wish this video would reflect some more of the reality of the current state of the country. Inflation has gone through the roof and almost 1 million citizens don't know how to cope with the high prices of gas and groceries. No gas from Russia anymore. Dutch gas mining has been reduced because of environmental reasons. Lot of political instability and an immigrant/refugees problem.

MOST OF US ARE A PAYCHECK AWAY FROM BEING HOMELESS, LEARN TO INVEST AND KEEP INVESTING UNTIL IT BECOMES A HABIT.

Leuk om te horen maar er zijn ook een hoop problemen die ik niet hoor in de video. Een kleine groep wordt steeds rijker en steeds meer mensen maken gebruik van de voedselbank. Ook komen er te veel gelukzoekers naar ons land waardoor het hele asielzoekers beleid vastgelopen is. Ook zijn er te weinig ziekenhuisbedden als corona de kop op steekt

How come this doesn't have 17.5mio views? We dutchies love it when people talk about us.

They are rich because the people who lived there pay way to much for food taxes gas water power insurance and cars. the tax is so high that (for the americans) a ford mustang costs over $100,000. so you know. the netherlands is way too expensive

Bruh this man used Robbin van persie for his thumbnail 😂

Awesome video There are many beautiful towns and places in the Netherlands to discover, and using the train will let you see the beautiful bulb fields. Many tourists mistakenly believe that the Netherlands is only Amsterdam.

I have one year since I moved to The Netherlands to work here and all I have to say it's that I love it from the bottom of my heart and in some time I want to make citizenship here and install here once and for all. It's amazingly structured, amazing helpful people, they are always happy, they greet you on the street, they are very open-minded, dutch people are also working-minded and what I mean by that is they are not shamed with their job, or never complain about their job, they do their job very well and like I said, I love The Netherlands from the bottom of my heart and it will stay that way until I die. Now all I have to do is to learn the language. I know a little bit of words but I'm not rushing anything, the process is what I want to enjoy the most.

We are soo poor that we can't even afford to purchase a house or pay the energy bills thanks to perfect leadership of Mark Rutte and Sigred Kaag.

The netherlands is rich because there’s a lot of tax on everything. 37% of your salary 9% on food an clothes You pay tax when you drive a car Tax on everything

I really do have a question. For someone with less than $5,000 to invest, how would you recommend we enter the market? I am looking at studying some traders and copying their strategy rather than investing myself and losing money emotionally. What’s your take on this approach?

Its like in belgium, they say the people have billions as in saving. Extra money. But they forget to mention its the money of 10 familys when the rest is actually having a hard time.

The country may be rich, but it is a hell living there.. glad I moved.

Well, as a Dutch citizen, the Netherlands as a country might be rich, the people most certainly are not. Yes, we a low unemployment rate, the salaries are average or a bit more, but the tax-rates are incredibly high. Joe Average is getting poorer by the day, while the elite, multinationals and all those in favour of our government are getting richer and richer. At this very moment farmers have to reduce by 50% due too European standards for the exposure of nitrogen-emmissions, our government blames the farmers for that solely, and farmers nationwide are protesting for a few months on row. Our inflation is more than 20%, prices of fuel, energy, food, and more increased significantly due too the war in Ukraine, droughts, and what ever they can make up. And talking about Ukraine, our country is flooded by refugees from the Ukraine, while about 60% of that country and neighbouring countries are considerd safe. But hey, okay we can help those in need due to the war, no problem. But our government stimulates the acceptance of refugees, not just from the Ukraine, but also from Africa, in order to have a positive population growth, in hope it will keep our retirementfunds and health care system affordable, but the result is our country suffers from overpopulation, our healtcare system is collapsing, and our retirement funds, paid by all working citizens, exported to the south of Europe as a loan to help them sort out their financial difficulties. Those loans will never be paid back, and altough I should be able to retire when I am 67 (was 65, in Greece and Italy you can retire with 62) I will never get anything from the retirementfunds at all. The money I paid al those years will be evaporated by then. Not to mention criminality. Due to cuts in policeforce, a burglar gets away with theft almost every time, druglords rule the country, and our country is becoming more and more of a gangsters paradise. So, the Netherlands a rich country? Well, not that much. We encounter the same problems as everone else in Europe or the States. 30-40 years ago our country was a good country to live in. But due to choices made by politicians during the last 30 years, our country is bring ruled by the elite, CEO's and captain's of industry.

i live in the netherlands and its pretty joyful and open to new things

The part where you explain that a lot of healthy people left the workforce made me crack up. At school, they told me about retirement age, and when I came home I began telling what I had learned that day. My two grandfathers would just stare blankly at me and tell me: Yeah, we didn't work until that age, we just went to a doctor, and we could retire early. When I asked why, they didn't know: "I don't know, everybody did it". I still think about those 2 old men all the time, their biggest problems were keeping the garden and lawn tidy and not forget to buy cigarettes.

Netherlands is smaller than Croatia by the landmass but it's GDP is bigger than all of Balkan countries combined. 🥰👍

I live there and it is these days a messed up place to live

Btw, we had the first financial crash of the world. It’s called the Tulip Mania, you could buy a house for a seed of a tulip. Needless to say that this was not as trustworthy as gold. It had a huge effect on the Netherlands.

Netherlands should have a army and a political system just a as strong as our wealth. We're giving it aways like it's nothing. Hopefully our next elections can make the Netherlands 1# again, because our country seems great on the ouside, but in just 20 years it has gotten worse and worse.

The graph about re-exports represented all exports and not just the agricultural ones. In reality, not half, but one third of agricultural exports are re-exports, and about two thirds of the products are produced in the Netherlands. So we produce some more than the video mentioned. Perhaps surprisingly, the biggest type of agricultural export (based on value, not tonnes) is decorative agriculture, followed by meat and only then vegetables.

Question: How did the Netherlands get so rich? Answer: Because the government makes everything very expensive but but doesn’t change the salaries of the citizens. And even blackmail farmers to sell there land for new industry.

As a dutch person: we were rich indeed. But not anymore... Our "leaders" work really hard to destroy everything we build. Its just a matter of time before everything collapse. 2030, here we come.

Before voc times, dutch already cornered international Haring trade for more than 100 years which enabled them to explore to for example the far east. Also the timber and fur trade with scandinavia was largely profitable for the dutch using their fluitschepen.

The divide between rich and poor is growing, while our middleclass is shrinking. Nothing rich here, but a few, mostly those with power.

Dutch middle class profits very little from their economy. Taxes and cost of living are exceptionally high. One of the reasons I left.

The Netherlands rich? 😂😂😂 You must be joking. The country has a 500 billion Euro debt, half a million people live on government welfare, which is basically on poverty level, 160.000 people in the working ages don't have a job, almost 8% of the entire population has problematic debts.... And you say the country is rich? Yeah, the 0.01% on the top maybe. I moved to Norway, because the Netherlands is just terrible to live in these days. Now earning double the amount of money I earned in NL, and work half the hours.

Believe me, at the moment you don't want to live in the Netherlands because of our amazing government. If I could choose I would move to another country. We all struggle to pay bills because everything is become crazy expensive. So with all do respect. Don't believe everything you read or see.

I am a Dutchman myself and I can tell you the Dutch government is rich but the people are poor and it is overregulated in favor of a small elite.

We are very fortunate that Netherlands is our very dearest friend of Bangladesh In Bangladesh Netherlands stands 2nd in foreign direct investment Netherlands imports from Bangladesh Netherlands and Bangladesh jointly have Dutch-Bangla Bank Since ancient time Netherlands always been a trade partner and cultural friend of Bengal Dutch Queen visits Bangladesh also

goede video, zeer informatief!

NL so rich?? Well let me enlighten you. Our government does absolutely diddly squat for their own people, the healtcare or raising prices. Instead they spend all their money on asylumseekers, climate and ukrain. Hundreds of thousands Dutch people cannot pay their bills anymore and have to make choices if they eat or pay a bill. It is absolutely heartbreaking and disgusting. Greetings, a concerned Dutch citizen.

Please tell me as someone who lives in the Netherlands that we are not rich (anymore) here no-one can afford a house anymore, students have been thrown into debt by their own goverment, prices are spiraling out of control and every year hundreds- of thousands of new people join this small overcrowded country. Today in the news it has been made clear that next year another 350.000 people will live in poverty.

In the Netherlands, almost 2,000,000 people live in poverty!!!

For those who don't know history: the modern (capitalist) world was invented (yes, invented) in The Netherlands, in Holland, and particularly in Amsterdam and Zaandam, two hundred years before the British industrial revolution, and being of mayor influence on the rise of Great Britain and the United States! So, maybe, we always have had a head start!

The Netherlands is more expensive than it is rich, both partners need a full time job to pay out their living costs, not much is left to actually save. Great country

What is the reason behind putting 'Van Persie' in the thumbnail. I mean, he is my favorite Dutch football player so you got me there.

The people living here are not rich. We get taxed on everything. We also give a lot of money away and housing space. It's good to help others, but if your own people suffer the consequences...what are you doing?

The agricultural equivalent of Rotterdam is Aalsmeer. The town of Aalsmeer, not far from Schiphol airport, hosts a flower auction on which flowers from all around the world are traded, flown in and exported again. Thanks to the value of the flowers, they are a huge contributor to Dutch agricultural (re-)exports.

Most interesting is the very broad freedom to start and run businesses of whatever kind, without needing any diplomas, papers etc. If you want to be an entrepreneur and trade in something... you just do it. I've been an entrepreneur now for over 15 years in my country; done this, done that and up to some other things again. Love it.

We are rich but living in the Netherlands is getting too expensive. Groceries are 12% more expensive compared to last year. And the winter has yet to come.

As a Mexican I want to say that I love Nepal.

Only a few are rich , the rest has to work hard to survive .

If we are being honest with ourselves, taxes may be a major pain, just like they are for the wealthy. Taxes on income, goods and services, real estate, etc. It's wonderful to pay taxes, but we may also establish our own tax havens. Since stock market appreciation is not taxed, I personally invest most of my money there. When I sell, though, I discover ways to make the profit tax-deductibleIf

Nice video but to coloured. Lots of people in the Netherlands are very poor. They can hardly pay their bills or rent for the houses. People also have problems with payments for insurances. That means that they won't receive the so needed medicine against ilness. So that's the other side of the "rich" Netherlands.

The high number of unemployment had a completely different reason: The Netherlands stopped subsidizing it's industries, which led to the closing of a lot of factories, as they could not compete with low wage countries like Japan and South Korea (at the time low wage... ) Also the government spending was well balanced before 1977. The real growth of the deficit started then, at van Agt's first term. He started lending from banks and people, where up to that point, we covered all expenses with taxes. Sure, business and rich people loved having to pay less taxes, but everything still had to be paid from somewhere.

The Netherlands being a tax haven has to be the stupidest thing I ever heard. We pay 50-60% over our income

Thank.s great video

How it became the second biggest one being such a small country? Simple! Sell the good meat to other countrys and give the dutch people terrible overpriced meat with the maximum amount of water in it...

Only to think that in a time where more food is needed then ever before. They have decided, in the netherlands, that 50% of the agricultural companies have to disappear.

No, we are not rich, stay away!

From the outside, the Netherlands seems rich, but the people are poor. We have many different crises. We have had food banks for decades.

Goverment is rich, citizens can barely pay bills

Highest tax on energy in all of Europe. You also forgot the wood trade with northern countries in the past.

There is a misconception on how rich the Netherlands is, or how rich the Dutch are. If you look at debts including mortgage we are not that well of.

The Netherlands is no longer rich at all, that was a long a go. The government has a lot of government debt, partly due to printing money during corona. As a result, inflation in the Netherlands is unprecedentedly high. It is al lot higher than in neighboring countries. People with less money, partly due to inflation, are less and less helped by the government. nice picture is sketched here of the netherlands, but you shouldn't believe everything that is said on the mainstream anymore. it's one big lie.

Also the netherlands has the highest difference of rich/poor 1/3 is own by the 10%

this sounds great and all. untill you live here. we have to many refugees that we can't account for. farms are being forced to shut down. gas prices are extremly high. there is a shortage of housing. it is about to get out of hand because there are already people that can't pay their bills anymore and that number is only going to increase if our crappy gouvernment doesn't do something really quickly now. it may look like everything is under control but really it's a big mess at the moment.

Thanks for promoting our country for refugees

Very rich, but for normal people impossible to buy a house, everything is expensive and we pay insanely high taxes

I live in the Netherlands and this is 7 years outdated. The Netherlands are considered rich but you can't become rich here. If you live normal lives then you can't get rich and you can't live an normal life it's almost like you're some sort of slave.

Jaja de Nederlandse staat is absoluut rijk! Wij burgers betalen ons blauw aan belasting en gas, water, energie en etenswaren. Gelukkig woon ik aan de grens met België en Duitsland. Waar ik veel goedkoper kan inkopen. Nederland is geen paradijs voor migranten. Wat ze misschien wel denken. Hier moet je met twee personen zorgen voor inkomen...

Because of the 'Dutch East India Company'. The Netherlands escaped scrutiny for the accumulation of wealth from slavery, pillaging third world tribal lands and outright theft. All that burden fell on the UK which had a higher international profile. During WWII, the National treasure of the Netherlands (lots of Gold and diamonds from South Africa) went to Canada, along with their royal family, and returned after the war. That's the currency reserve that future national wealth was built on.

Trust me there are also a lot of poor people here in the Netherlands. What you dont see is that our political situation is really bad at the moment. Not enough houses, way too many refugees (they need to sleep outside) and everything become super expensive. As a dutch men you need to work hard to pay all your bills and your rent. There is not a lot of money left for nice things at the moment for a lot of people. The proud to be dutch is not as before, things need to be changed here! Our gouvernement should put our citizens on number 1 again

How come that the Netherlands is so rich and that I live there and that I have always at the end of my money a part of the month remaining?

O and can you imagine that the Dutch inhabitants paid too many taxes for their savings. The judge said the inhabitants were right. But only the people who actually wrote a letter of complaint to the tax company got money back. So Dutch government steals from their inhabitants so their wealth became immensely high. So for your understanding they didn't compensate the people who didn't write a letter of complaint. So you believe the government and therefore you're being punishment.

As a Dutchman I can say it's absolutely horrific to live in the Netherlands. The middle incomes complain about the extra's the lower class gets, but without these extra's it's almost impossible to get by every month. There is clearly no system, with the current energy crisis, people just can't pay their bills. There is no such thing as an automatic connection between minimum wages and the average cost of living. Me being chronically ill it's even worse, as the Dutch insurance doesn't cover all the necessary medical costs.

They have a very impressive history of highly entrepreneurial and shrewd military and naval legacy.

Developing a high turnover does not mean a high profit. The net disposable income of the Netherlands within Europe was still in 5th place in 2017, in 2021 it has dropped to 14th place.

Thanks to Robin van Persie.

It is true the Netherlands is a wealthy and financially stable country, as well as relatively peaceful, and I am grateful being a Dutch civilian. Yet there are some setbacks. For instance the dense population, which causes a serious shortage of housing and high rent prices. There are quite a lot of homeless people in the Netherlands, that are not psychiatric patients or drug patients but normal working class people who simply can't find a house and are driven into poverty and sometimes suicide. The very intense agricultural production does also pose long-term environmental challenges (like eutrophication of eco-systems). Moreover, the Dutch are famous for their extreme bureaucracy, which can get average citizens into serious trouble. De 'toeslagenaffaire' is famous for this. And Dutch society as a whole is getting less liberal. Citizens seem to be getting more harsh and less tolerant towards one another.

Well I must say as Dutch citizen I am impressed that someone who isn't dutch knows this much about our country

The gasfield is in Slochteren, in the northern province of Groningen. Not in the North Sea. There are some more tiny gas pockets in the Wadden Sea, but they're currently not being exploited due to the fragile ecology.

Why are people taking here about investments its about a country not investments

I live in the Netherlands, but I have never noticed that wealth! Ordinary people are struggling to pay their bills, and we have many food banks where people can get free food! The Netherlands is that rich!

The top 2% owns one-third of the wealth. The top 10% owns 68% of the wealth. The healthcare costs are the second-highest of the world. Energy- and groceries are the most expensive in Europe. And a very high tax pressure. Still good country to live in though, but most people are far from rich.

have not seen the video yet but simply i think its the same as Switzerland, valuable companies plus strong economic freedom gives them a global competitive edge.

Taxhaven not so much, maybe for foreign capital, but definetly not for its citizens. 50% income tax if you make more than 68k per year, I think that is absolutely ridiculous. Also 25% coorperate taxes, one of the highest in Europe.

I am dutch to: or in English: Hello, I am Dutch and am writing this response. Greats from the netherlands