NLD · snapshot 2026-08-09

Netherlands

Low

Overall risk score

19.6

Percentile of scored universe

8th

Data coverage

94%

vs Australia (16.1)

+3.5

Category breakdown

Political Stability & Governance

Low
18.1+5.4 vs AU

6 indicators · 100% coverage

Economic Resilience

Low
25.8+14.7 vs AU

6 indicators · 85% coverage

Financial & Currency Risk

Low
5.9+0.0 vs AU

5 indicators · 100% coverage

Business Environment

Low
28.6-6.2 vs AU

3 indicators · 75% coverage

Security & Crime

Low
27.5+2.5 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Climate & Social Compliance

Low
14.9+4.5 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Technology & Digital

Low
11.7-2.0 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Cultural Distance

Low
32.3+31.5 vs AU

9 indicators · 100% coverage · not in overall score

Key risks and considerations

Netherlands rates Low for market entry — an overall risk score of 19.6, less risky than 92% of rated economies and 4 points riskier than Australia.

The main risk driver is no investment-treaty protection with Australia.

Relative strengths: secure internet servers and voice & accountability both sit in the least-risky quarter of rated economies, and sovereign credit risk rates Low, the least-risky rating band.

Possible mitigations

  • Payment fraud. Experts nominate this market as a cybercrime origin (World Cybercrime Index, 2021 survey): verify any change of bank details out-of-band, enforce MFA and dual authorisation on payments, and be sceptical of unsolicited counterparties.

Generated automatically from this snapshot’s indicator data — a starting point for analysis, not advice.

Indicators

IndicatorValueRisk scoreRating
Political Stability & Governance
Voice & accountability (WGI)85.83.2Low
Government effectiveness (WGI)85.45.6Low
Regulatory quality (WGI)82.04.6Low
Rule of law (WGI)86.33.6Low
Control of corruption (WGI)86.54.1Low
Political stability & absence of violence/terrorism (WGI PV)73.238.9Medium
Economic Resilience
GDP growth (3-yr average, %)0.8% (3-yr avg)50.0High
Growth volatility (10-yr std dev, pp)±2.8 pp36.3Medium
Government net debt (% of GDP)35.710.0Low
Inflation (CPI %, vs income-group target)3.310.0Low
Current account (3-yr average, % of GDP)8.5% (3-yr avg)40.0Medium
FX reserves (months of import cover)Insufficient data
GDP per capita (PPP, current intl $)$87,3206.3Low
Financial & Currency Risk
Capital-account openness (Chinn-Ito KAOPEN)1.005.0Low
Currency stability (regime-aware classification)Floating — low volatility (<8%)15.0Low
Sovereign credit risk (OECD country risk classification)Category 0 / 72.0Low
FATF listing (grey / black list status)Not listed0.0Low
Double-tax agreement with AustraliaIn force0.0Low
Business Environment
FDI regulatory restrictiveness (OECD FDIRRI)0.0130.3Medium
Logistics performance (World Bank LPI)4.12.9Low
Business readiness (World Bank B-READY pillar average)Insufficient data
Investment protection with Australia in force (BIT or FTA investment chapter)None in force100.0Very High
Security & Crime
Armed-conflict intensity (battle deaths per 100k, 5-yr)0.029.7Medium
Intentional homicide rate (per 100k)0.714.8Low
Organised crime pervasiveness (GI-TOC criminality score)5.252.6High
DFAT Smartraveller advisory levelLevel 1 — Exercise normal safety precautions10.0Low
Climate & Social Compliance
Physical climate vulnerability (ND-GAIN vulnerability)0.37122.4Low
Disaster risk (INFORM Risk Index)2.520.9Low
Modern-slavery prevalence (per 1,000)0.62.5Low
Modern-slavery vulnerability score6.02.2Low
Technology & Digital
E-government development (UN EGDI)1.04.9Low
Internet users (% of population)97.08.9Low
Cybercrime origination (World Cybercrime Index)1.930.0Medium
Secure internet servers (per million people)198682.42.6Low

Per-indicator ratings are quartile bands of the 0–100 risk score. The Australia column shows the same indicator’s raw value for the Australian baseline in this snapshot.

Cultural distance

GLOBE 2004 societal practices · rated on distance from Australia · not in the overall score

NetherlandsAustraliaGLOBE practice score · scale 1–7
Power distanceHigh
4.11
4.74
Uncertainty avoidanceMedium
4.70
4.39
Institutional collectivismLow
4.46
4.29
In-group collectivismLow
3.70
4.17
Humane orientationHigh
3.86
4.28
Performance orientationLow
4.32
4.36
AssertivenessLow
4.32
4.28
Gender egalitarianismLow
3.50
3.40
Future orientationHigh
4.61
4.09

Context — not scored

Unemployment

3.9%

Displayed, never scored: ambiguous for an entrant and unreliable where informal employment dominates. (2025, ILO modelled)

Trade agreement

No Australian FTA in force

Market access is decision-relevant but a benefit, not a risk — kept out of the rating.

Regional advisories

No higher regional advisory levels

DFAT Smartraveller sub-national advice where it exceeds the overall level.

Compare with

A score means little on its own. These economies scored closest to Netherlands in this snapshot, which is the fastest way to see whether the rating is telling you something specific or something regional.

All 218 economies · How to read these ratings