The Netherlands and Belgium are two of my favorite countries that I've ever had the opportunity
To learn about here on FTD facts, and I found that both are not only just fascinating and culturally interesting
But they both have a very positive attitude in the world today. Hey everybody. How's it going? Welcome to FTD facts
I'm Dave Walpole and today I'm going to be looking at the differences and maybe even some
Similarities between the two awesome nations known as the Netherlands and Belgium now
This is kind of like a continuation series where we look at certain countries
And we try to learn as much as we can about them
Which I'm gonna get into a little bit later and tell you guys all about our playlists that we do if you want to learn
More about either of these countries. But anyways, I think we should just get started here
If it's your first time here, welcome to the channel hit the subscribe button if you like learning about different places around the world
So let's just start it off talking about the simple basic things and that is good
old-fashioned population and those particular numbers now Belgium it ranks 79th in the world in terms of population with
Approximately eleven million four hundred and twenty thousand
163 people the Netherlands is a little bit bigger coming in at sixty sixth with
17 million two hundred and eighty three thousand eight people and of course with this population
Let's talk about something else that mirrors that and that is the land size because although they are very similar in size
Belgium is approximately thirty thousand five hundred twenty-eight kilometres square with the Netherlands being 42 thousand five hundred and eight
Kilometers square now actually for that when it comes to the land size
I'm not a hundred percent sure if that's just the mainland like for example
The Netherlands especially they have islands that they own around the world
I'm not sure if that's been thrown in there
But I'm gonna talk about that later because I want to continue talking about population
now, of course for these two countries the people that live in it identify different from each other for example and Belgium
They are known as Belgians and in the Netherlands, they are known not as the Netherland ease
But they are known as the Dutch, which actually I found it kind of weird
I mean if you talk about the Dutch
The only people in the world that actually kind of do this I think and that's a major difference. We're like Belgians
They're from Belgium and it's like other countries around the world. You got like myself Canadians. I'm from Canada
You know, you've got Americans who got Brazilians. We've got Australians
I mean you get even the English England and they're either Britain's there from Britain
But the Dutch it's not like it's called Dutch land
I mean, there's the Deutschland which is like German, but it's not Dutch Lindner. It's not they're not Holland either
They're not the Netherland ease their nether land Ian's they're considered the Dutch. It's I always thought that was kind of weird
So that's a major difference
however, when it comes to the people within this country
We should just mention for example in the Netherlands 79 percent of these people identify as Dutch while approximately six point three percent
Identify as other Europeans and about four point nine percent identify as endo. And of course below four point nine percent
There was a bunch of others that come from different places around the world
But Belgium it's a little bit different because they sometimes call it the immigration country of Europe
Well sort of because they kind of have a lot of immigrants there
for example, one of the latest studies they found that 25% of the population identified as foreigners, which was up from
2007 which the foreign population equalled approximately 12.9% and of these people would say sometimes identify as New Belgium's about
49% of them came from Europe while the rest of them came from non-western countries
also when it comes to the Dutch
There's a little bit of Al and sort of dispute within Belgium
And that is the region known as Flanders and what makes this location within belgium. Very interesting
Is it definitely shows an overlap of culture and language because for Flanders this location?
Pretty much is identified as a Dutch region
And as a matter of fact, although they're not all considered Dutch about 68 percent of the population lives in flanders
And of course down south there's a section known as Wallonia
Which they kind of have a language that is part of the French family
So you could say that Belgium is kind of a cross between the Dutch and the French and they kind of merged together and created
One condemnation, which also makes some people wonder why?
Okay, and Belgium is you know Flanders not part of the Netherlands and Molony and not part of France
I don't know. Well actually believe it or not
There is a reason why the country of Belgium just exists in the first place and with that in mind
Let's talk about one of the big differences and that is the fact that the Netherlands has been around since it was proclaimed on July
26th 5th in 81
This is after they said to Spain they kind of want to be their own
Country and they basically didn't want to be a part of what was known as Spanish Netherlands
But however nowadays the Netherlands is listed as a kingdom in which it became one in 1815
however
Belgium didn't really have the opportunity to be its own nation at a very young girl
Because for them some of them didn't like the issues of what was going on within the Netherlands and within France that they ended up
splitting creating their own country in 1830
also one huge difference between Belgium and the Netherlands especially when it comes to its history is
Colonialization because this was very important especially for the Netherlands in like the 16th 17th 18th and 19th
century because for the Dutch they'd been doing it for a much longer period and had traces of their colonialism beginning in
1543 of course the Belgians they were a little bit later in the game. They started their colonialism around 1840 and the 1850s
Overall in history, the Dutch has had colonies in over 29 different countries
Some of the bigger ones that come to mind are like say in America
For example, you had like New York region's you had like New Jersey you had you know
Massachusetts, you know
they had Dutch colonies there as a matter of fact major Dutch accents and dialects existed in New Jersey till about
1921
Africa is also a big one. The term Afrikaans really comes from the Dutch
basically many settlers went over there for farming which they were called the Boers and as of
2006 they say there's approximately 22 million people who speak Afrikaans and of course
It's the second language in the country known as South Africa. We can't also forget the popular Caribbean
They had islands like Saint Maarten in which today's world is considered half Dutch Aruba. Curaçao
And of course in Suriname Dutch is also the main language
One of the bigger ones that we also gotta remember is South Asia and Southeast Asia as a matter of fact
Indonesia had Dutch influences at the time of recording this video for at least
350 years. I don't know how long this video was gonna exist for
I'm not gonna lie as a matter of fact some historians and
linguistic specialists say that 20 percent of Indonesian words come from Dutch origins now jump into the
1840s and 1850s because Europe and many year in countries had many colonies around the world
They were like, yo, we got to be part of this action, too
As a matter of fact, did you know that Hawaii was this close to being considered a Belgian territory?
Basically this story is that King Leopold the first made a deal with lad & Co to colonize the island in 1843
But of course due to some conflict issues and I mean like actual Wars and stuff like that
This did not happen
Belgium also had colonies in Guatemala the city of Tianjin in
China and also had the island known as comma Cena but only for a year until it went back to Italy and one of the
Biggest spots. They also colonized was the Congo in 1885 and with that due to major problems
They also had to forcibly take it in 1908
however, for both of these countries in the mid 20th century, most of their colonies had pushed for independence for example in
1945 Indonesia was given its independence from the Netherlands
And of course for the Congo it wasn't until the 1960s that it also got its independence from Belgium
Let's also talk about one other major difference and that is a cultural thing
And that is the marriage you wanna that's right smokes and lighten up by the way guys
I know all you guys are probably sitting out there. You're like, oh what's with the two kin the hat?
Are you a pothead yourself? Nah, man, I'm not I can't smoke. It does terrible things to me? I have a heart condition
So let's all save the jokes for later. Okay. So with in Belgium, believe it or not
It actually is illegal when it comes to buying it
however
since
2003 personal possession is considered
Decriminalized and to not get charged by the police one has to be over 18 years old and can only carry a maximum of three
Grams Netherlands is a little bit different. Most people like to think that oh my gosh. It's the Netherlands. You can just smoke anywhere
It's the oh, it's just a free place. That's not actually true believe it or not. They do say that marijuana is considered illegal
However, the truth be told it's pretty much
Tolerated police don't get too bent out of shape for it
And actually you can smoke it and purchase it in shops like coffee shops
That's how you get it in like places like Amsterdam. Also, we're on it considered we're talking about Amsterdam
Let's talk about the red-light district, you know
prostitution and all that stuff basically how a prostitution works in the Netherlands is that it is considered legal and of course one can operate
Waffles this legalization happened in the year
2000 however in Belgium prostitution is also considered legal however pimping and
Soliciting is not you're not allowed to do that. So you can't be standing on the street being like yo boy, what's up?
Is that how they do it? I've never never got a prostitute before so
yeah, also similar to Amsterdam Belgium has its own red-light districts where they both do have those windows where girls can
Stand out there and be like yo, this is what you are gonna get. So it's not really soliciting
It's kind of like window shopping. It's a bit different
Yo, by the way
Guys before I continue consider a lot a really good role if you guys really like learning about these two countries
Maybe you're from Belgium. You want to learn more about your country. You're from the Netherlands and vice-versa
Just letting you guys know we've talked I've talked about these countries much in the past and I've done playlists
So for the Netherland guys the Dutch boom. There's a playlist about your country
you guys can continue learn and see all the videos that we've talked about when it comes to the Netherlands and
For the Belgians here you go right here. Boom. You can check that one out. Feel free
It's a playlist just all on our videos around your countries
so I'm also gonna put them at the end of the video and I'm also gonna put them in the description box below if you
Want to continue learning about the differences here?
So let's just keep going
Boom because also I heard this really weird
Kind of fact about the difference between the two and I don't know if it's true or not
but the Dutch you guys can shed some light on it down there in the comments section and that is
Compared to Belgian. The thing is the Dutch apparently like to drink milk during lunch
I don't know if that's a thing. Is that a thing? Let me know down there. I'm curious. So yeah
Anyways, there's more because considering we're on milk
We got to talk about one amazing thing and that is food. My belly is getting excited
I love food. So I'm just gonna mention two major highlights that are different from these two nations. There's so much culinary stuff
I'm not getting into it guys because there's so much
But in the Netherlands you have a major difference from Belgian and that is the fact that the Dutch are really well known for making
Cheese so much that every Christmas I try to find actual Dutch kind of Netherlands
It's a great thing Gouda
Oh, yeah, but as for Belgium
They are more huge on an international level for their good old-fashioned waffles waffles are great. I love him
I don't know why people are starting to put them on hamburgers with chicken and stuff. I'm gonna say this
No, just no not you eat it with like
Belgian waffles that's that's as far as you go
Nothing else no chicken. Yuck. Anyways, that's just food
Let's talk about politics because in the Netherlands believe it or not voting is not considered compulsory
Meaning that you don't have to do it by life. You just don't want to vote
You don't have to kind of here in Canada. It's not compulsory. I won't get fined
I won't get in trouble or anything like that Belgium
It's not the same way
as a matter of fact
It's a mandatory that
Everybody votes and I don't necessarily know what kind of punishment you get if you don't vote if it's a fine or anything like that
again
Belgians let me know down there. I'm always curious. It's interesting to know these things speaking about government. They're very similar governments. They are
Constitutional monarchies, but they're slightly different because the Netherlands is classified as a unitary parliamentary
Constitutional monarchy god that was really hard to say
I don't know why but basically they have a king and a queen sort of thing
Belgium is a little bit different but similar it is a federal parliamentary
Constitutional monarchy and that means they also have a king and a queen sort of things set up
What is the difference ma'el explain for the Netherlands King willem-alexander?
Is considered the head of state with limited powers?
And of course is similar to that in Belgium King Philip is also in charge but has limited powers as well
Also for these two monarchs they do have different levels of power because in terms of military King Philip is considered the commander-in-chief
Of the Belgium Armed Forces, whereas the Netherlands it's given to the entire head cabinet government and not one man. Oops
Yeah, I forgot. I was gonna mention the difference between
Unitary and federal forms of government. So just in case you don't get confused. So, okay
Here's how it works and the Netherlands basically unitary means that the cabinet the government head
Cabinet is in charge and makes a lot of the decisions federal
It just means it's shared between you know, three different sections of the government
You've got federal state and local so they all share in the decision-making process
That's how it works. Lastly. I also just gotta mention sports because it's a big thing within these two countries in the Netherlands
They say approximately two-thirds of the entire population
participate in sports regularly and about 4.5 million of these people have joined at least one of the
35,000 sporting clubs
So the big sports you've got soccer football that are big in actually Belgium and the Netherlands
You've also got cycling and Formula One racing
but one thing that the Dutch are really known well for especially in terms of the Olympics is
speed skating and they've got a lot of
Medals and awards for it Belgians. They're a little bit more
Well known for their cycling as a matter of fact, they've won the most victories in the Tour de France after France itself
Of course. They also host the Formula One World Championship of Belgium Grand Prix and in 2010
It said about 13% of the population was involved with some sort of sport
But of course they got this figure from the 1.35 million people that are part of sporting clubs
So I don't really know how accurate that is. You could be going for a run and that just doesn't count
So, I mean it means people are active, you know
So anyways guys that is it for me that is looking at the differences between these two nations very similar
but also very different and man they've been separated for a long time since yeah, like
1800s and it's of course over time
They're gonna develop their own things their own way of doing things, but it's good to know that there's still very good partners
And they still have a lot of traditions that come back and forth between the two anyways
My name is Dave walpa and like I said before you guys get out of here. Be sure to check out those awesome playlists
I really recommend it people really do like learning about their own countries. So that's kind of the thing that you want to do
So it's in the description box below and it's gonna be right after my ugly face gets off this camera
So other than that hit that subscribe button is your first time here and I will see you guys later. Okay, okay
Alright, that's it. I know I talk a lot really really fast. Okay. Alright. Bye
Okay guys here they are playlists
You got the Belgium playlist and you've got the Netherlands playlist whenever you feel like choosing you can just do whatever you want
I mean if you don't even want to watch him, you just want to go watch Netflix. I don't blame you
I've heard there's some really good things on Netflix. I don't I personally don't watch a lot of TV
But yeah too busy making videos. Okay. I'm out of here. Bye