The Netherlands is a nation.
Amsterdam ( [ ˈæmstərdæm , _ ˌæmstərˈdæm ] [ ɑmstərˈdɑm ] ) is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands . The European Union ( EU ) is a political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe . This is a list of countries by inequality-adjusted human development index ( IHDI ) , as published by the UNDP in its 2016 Human Development Report . Netherlands . The first four are situated in The Hague , as is the EU 's criminal intelligence agency Europol and judicial co-operation agency Eurojust . The Hague ( [ ðə_ˈheɪɡ ] Den Haag , [ dɛn ˈɦaːx ] or 's - Gravenhage [ ˈsxraːvə ( n ) ˌɦaːɣə ] ) is a city on the western coast of the Netherlands , and the capital city of the province of South Holland .