Travelling Club - Netherlands Antilles

Fact Sheet: Netherlands Antilles

• Location: Caribbean, two island groups in the Caribbean Sea - composed of five islands, Curacao and Bonaire located off the coast of Venezuela, and St. Maarten, Saba, and St. Eustatius lie east of the US Virgin Islands
• Geographic coordinates: 12 15 N, 68 45 W
• Area: total: 960 sq km
• Climate: tropical; ameliorated by northeast trade winds
• Terrain: generally hilly, volcanic interiors
• Natural hazards: Curacao and Bonaire are south of Caribbean hurricane belt and are rarely threatened; Sint Maarten, Saba, and Sint Eustatius are subject to hurricanes from July to October
• Population: 221,736 (July 2006 est.)
• Ethnic groups: mixed black 85%, Carib Amerindian, white, East Asian
• Religions: Roman Catholic 72%, Pentecostal 4.9%, Protestant 3.5%, Seventh-Day Adventist 3.1%, Methodist 2.9%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.7%, other Christian 4.2%, Jewish 1.3%, other or unspecified 1.2%, none 5.2% (2001 census)
• Languages: Papiamento 65.4% (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect), English 15.9% (widely spoken), Dutch 7.3% (official), Spanish 6.1%, Creole 1.6%, other 1.9%, unspecified 1.8% (2001 census)
• Government type: parliamentary
• Capital: name: Willemstad (on Curacao)
• Currency code: Netherlands Antillean guilder (ANG)
• Exchange rates: Netherlands Antillean guilders per US dollar - 1.79 (2005), 1.79 (2004), 1.79 (2003), 1.79 (2002), 1.79 (2001)
• Internet country code: .an
• Airports: 5 (2006)