Health-Holland

Competitive economy The Dutch business climate is attractive and its economy competitive. In 2017, the Netherlands ranked third on Forbes’ annual Best Country for Business list. The Netherlands also receives high marks for its favourable business climate from the World Economic Forum and IMD. It draws significant investor interest, including from a wide range of multinationals in various sectors. Businesses consider the Netherlands an attractive place to locate in Europe thanks not only to its competitive tax climate and stable business relations, but also to its international focus, its well-educated highly productive labour force, its sophisticated (IT-) infrastructure, its strategic location and its key role as a European transportation hub, as well as its good quality of life. The Netherlands has the sixth-largest economy in the European Union (18 th in the world), with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 733 billion euros in 2017. That is impressive for a small country with a small surface area (134 th worldwide). Major exporter and importer The Netherlands is the world’s 5 th -largest exporter, making it a major player in world trade. In 2016, the Netherlands exported just under 570 billion US dollars in goods, accounting for some 3.6% of total global exports. It is also a major importer, ranking eighth and taking 3.1% of the global share of imports (504 billion US dollars in 2016). The Netherlands exports and imports a significant amount of commercial services, totalling 180 billion and 173 billion US dollars respectively in 2015. This ranks the country in sixth place for exports and seventh place for imports of commercial services. High productivity Labour productivity in the Netherlands is among the highest in the world, thanks to a highly educated workforce and solid economic structure. Dutch employees have an international focus, and the majority are multilingual. Overall, the country has a high level of labour participation among both highly educated and lower educated employees. In summary, the Netherlands is one of the European Union’s wealthiest nations. GDP per capita of employed person is 52,959 US dollars (OECD, 2016), compared to the EU average of 40,920 US dollars. Global Competitiveness Index (2017-2018) 5.86 Switzerland 1 5.85 United States 2 5.71 Singapore 3 5.66 Netherlands 4 5.65 Germany 5 5.53 Hong Kong SAR 6 5.52 Sweden 7 5.51 United Kingdom 8 5.49 Japan 9 5.49 Finland 10 Source: The Global Competitiveness Report 2017-2018 53