The Netherlands (pronounced /ˈnɛðərləndz/ ( listen); Dutch Dutch ( Nederlands ) is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language. Most native speakers live in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, with smaller groups of speakers in parts of France, Germany and several former Dutch colonies. It is closely related to other: Nederland, pronounced [ˈneːdərlɑnt] Dutch is a Germanic language and as such has a similar phonology to other Germanic languages . (See the West Germanic languages.) ( listen)) is a country In geography, a country is a geographical region. The term is often applied to a political division or the territory of a state, or to a smaller, or former, political division of a geographical region. Usually, but not always, a country coincides with a sovereign territory and is associated with a state, nation and government in Northwestern Europe Geographically, it is almost always used to include the United Kingdom and Ireland; the northern and western parts of France and Germany; the Benelux countries; and the nordic countries . It would normally exclude the Iberian peninsula, Italy; Switzerland, southern and eastern parts of France and Germany and Austria. This usage is helpful when, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands The Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden ) is a state with territory in Western Europe (the Netherlands) and in the Caribbean (Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles). The three parts are referred to as "countries", and participate on a basis of equality as partners in the Kingdom. Their constitutional positions,. It is a parliamentary A parliamentary system is a system of government where in the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature, and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator democratic Democracy is a political government either carried out by the people , or the power to govern is granted to elected representatives (republicanism). The term is derived from the Greek: δημο�