The Netherlands has a population of 17,280,397 (2020)[6] and with an area of ​​41,543 km²[9] a population density of 416 inhabitants/km². This makes the Netherlands the fifteenth most populous country in the world; Excluding the small city-states of Monaco, Vatican City and San Marino, the Netherlands is the most populous country in Europe after Malta. 18.41% of the surface (7,650 km²) consists of water and 81.59% of land (33,893 km²). The population density excluding the water surface is 510 inhabitants/km². About 27 percent of the country is below sea level.[10] The land is protected from the water by a system of dikes and waterworks. Polders have been created through land reclamation. Administratively, the country is divided into twelve provinces and 342 municipalities.

The Netherlands is located in the northwest of Europe and is bordered by the North Sea, Germany and Belgium. The length of the national border is 1027 km, while the coastline is 451 km long. In addition, several islands around the Caribbean Sea belong to the Netherlands. These differ greatly geographically from the European part of the Netherlands and are discussed separately here.

The history of settlement in the Netherlands is strongly linked to the origins of the Dutch subsurface. The environment not only changed due to the drowning history of the Scheldt, Rhine, Maas and Ems during the Holocene, but conversely, habitation has had a major influence on the current Dutch landscape with polders and dikes, especially in the last 1000 years.