世界各国

Netherlands Antilles

Introduction to Netherlands Antilles

Once the center of the Caribbean slave trade, the island of Curacao was hard hit by the abolition of slavery in 1863. Its prosperity (and that of neighboring Aruba) was restored in the early 20th century with the construction of oil refineries to service the newly discovered Venezuelan oil fields. The island of Saint Martin is shared with France; its southern portion is named Sint Maarten and is part of the Netherlands Antilles; its northern portion is called Saint-Martin and is part of Guadeloupe.

Government

Capital:

Willemstad 

National holiday:

Queen's Day (Birthday of Queen-Mother JULIANA in 1909 and accession to the throne of her oldest daughter BEATRIX in 1980), 30 April 

Economy

Economy overview:

Tourism, petroleum refining, and offshore finance are the mainstays of this small economy, which is closely tied to the outside world. Although GDP has declined or grown slightly in each of the past seven years, the islands enjoy a high per capita income and a well-developed infrastructure compared with other countries in the region. Almost all consumer and capital goods are imported, the US and Mexico being the major suppliers. Poor soils and inadequate water supplies hamper the development of agriculture. Budgetary problems hamper reform of the health and pension systems of an aging population. 

GDP:

purchasing power parity - $2.45 billion (2003 est.) 

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 1%
industry: 15%
services: 84% (2000 est.)

Agriculture products:

aloes, sorghum, peanuts, vegetables, tropical fruit 

Industries:

tourism (Curacao, Sint Maarten, and Bonaire), petroleum refining (Curacao), petroleum transshipment facilities (Curacao and Bonaire), light manufacturing (Curacao) 

Transportation

Highways:

total: 600 km
paved: 300 km
unpaved: 300 km

Ports and harbors:

Kralendijk, Philipsburg, Willemstad

Merchant marine:

total: 162 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 1,317,007 GRT/1,668,499 DWT
registered in other countries: 1 (2003 est.)
foreign-owned: Belgium 3, Denmark 1, Germany 57, Monaco 4, Netherlands 70, New Zealand 1, Norway 5, Peru 1, Spain 1, Sweden 5, Turkey 2, United Kingdom 6
by type: bulk 4, cargo 59, chemical tanker 1, combination bulk 1, combination ore/oil 3, container 28, liquefied gas 6, multi-functional large load carrier 22, passenger 1, petroleum tanker 1, refrigerated cargo 28, roll on/roll off 7, specialized tanker 1

Airports:

5 (2003 est.)