BELGIUM vs NETHERLANDS - COMPARISON

BETWEEN COUNTRIES. CASE STUDY

Investigación de mercados

Álvaro Cruz Blanco

Use statistics and in-depth market studies to analyse their similarities

in: economics, culture, demography, religion, politics, history,
infrastructure and transports.

These two countries have similarities in demographics, although the Netherlands

has a larger population, the composition in some ways is the same. They are countries
with a very similar population age structure, being two countries with a large number of
immigrants, being in the Netherlands mostly people of Arab origin and in Belgium
French-speaking people from old African colonies, such as the Congo.

Talking about history, both countries have a very rich history. First Belgium,
became the richest part of the world in the 15th century, with the cities of Bruges and
Knights. On the other hand, the Netherlands became a world leader in the 17th century.
They were two very important regions in the historical culture, one country had the
school of Flanders, leaving a historical heritage to humanity, while the other had the
Dutch golden age. Due to their strategic position, both countries have played an
important role in the history of world trade, having important ports that have allowed
their growth. These are two countries that had similar situations during Napoleon's
conquest, with a part of Belgium even belonging to the Netherlands. Furthermore, one
could say the same during the First and Second World War, since they had a similar
position in both wars.
 Talking about the economics of both countries, it can be seen that the GDP in
Holland is higher than in Belgium, in spite of that it presents similarities in figures such
as the GDP per capita, the percentage of public spending on education or the percentage
of public spending on health. With respect to the other parameters, the Netherlands
presents more favourable data.

Source: datosmacro.com

In the following table we can observe similarities in the unemployment rate, as

well as similarities in the average salary, in the other parameters the Netherlands has
again better figures.
 Source: datosmacro.com

So, with these two tables we can observe some differences and similitudes
among their economics. But the Netherlands shows a better situation.

The Belgians are Catholic, the Dutch are half Catholic, half Protestant, and both
countries have many Muslim immigrants/refugees. Both have a king and a queen, and
princes. In the Netherlands, the king is very popular, in Belgium, it is less popular.

In spite of being neighbours, they have totally different cultural customs and
festivals. In Belgium, except for Armistice Day (which is focused on the end of the
Second World War) all other festivals are related to religion. In the case of the
Netherlands, they have religious holidays, but also national holidays such as King's
Day.

Regarding the infrastructure, it must be taken into account that the Netherlands
is a flat land, located at sea level, so their infrastructure is very focused on these aspects,
it also have a serious problem of space to build so they must take advantage of each plot
of land in the most optimal and efficient way. On the contrary, Belgium has mountains
of about 500 m high, having a totally different disposition in their cities and towns.

In relation to transport, they are two countries that bet very strongly on public
transport, having important railway networks throughout the country. In addition, they
are increasingly concerned about a clean and non-polluting transport betting on the
transition to the electric car. On the other hand, the Netherlands is a country that bets
very strongly on the use of bicycles, whose use is widespread among the population

How big is their trade volume (trade balance)?

According to the United Nations Comtrade Database Belgium exported 53.67

billion dollars to the Netherlands in 2019, while the Netherlands exported $58.31 billion
to Belgium. On the other hand, the Belgium imports from the Netherlands was an
amount of 74.08 billion of dollars, while Netherlands imports from Belgium was 50.72
billion of dollars in 2019.

What are the products and services they market?

 Following the Atlas of Complexity Economic of Harvard, the principal goods
exported by the Netherlands to Belgium are petroleum oils crude, petroleum oils
refined, petroleum gas, computers and transmission apparatus for radio, telephone and
TV.

Source: Atlas of Complexity Economic of Harvard

In the case of Belgium, the principal goods exported to the Netherlands are
petroleum oils refined, cars, petroleum gases, oils etc from high temperature coal tar and
petroleum oils crude

Atlas of Complexity Economic of Harvard

 A similarity in the most traded products can be observed, with oil products being
the most important products for both countries.

Which of the two countries depends more on the other?

Looking at the data on exports and imports, as well as the products that have
been exported and imported, it seems that Belgium is the most dependent, but this
dependence is not very large because the figures are almost the same.

Conclusions

In conclusion, they are very similar countries in many aspects such as history,
culture and economy. These aspects, together with their proximity, seem to increase
trade between these countries, so that there are similarities between the products that are
exported to each other. However, it seems that the Netherlands has a more advanced
position than Belgium, which makes it the dominant part of the relationship.