Culture of the Netherlands

The culture of the Netherlands is shaped by regional variety and centuries of foreign influence, a result of the Dutch people’s long history of trade and exploration. The country and its inhabitants have been a notable hub of cultural liberalism and tolerance, with the Dutch Golden Age widely seen as its high point.

**Language**

Nearly everyone in the Netherlands speaks Dutch, the official language. Dutch is also an official language in Aruba, Belgium, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Suriname. It is a West Germanic, Low Franconian language that first emerged around 470 AD during the Early Middle Ages and was standardized in the 1500s. Frisian holds official recognition and is used by the government in the province of Friesland. In the north and east, several dialects of Low Saxon (called *Nedersaksisch* in Dutch) are spoken and recognized by the Netherlands as regional languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Limburgish, spoken in the southeastern province of Limburg, also has regional language status. Both Dutch Low Saxon and Limburgish extend across the Dutch-German border, forming part of a shared Dutch-Low German dialect continuum. Foreign language learning is a tradition: roughly 89% of the population has a good command of English, 70% of German, 29% of French, and 5% of Spanish.

**Religion**

Cultural exchange occurred among the Celtic, Germanic, and later Roman peoples, leading to an adaptation of polytheistic beliefs and myths from Germanic, Celtic, and Roman traditions. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, the Great Migration saw the small Celtic-Germanic-Roman tribes of the Low Countries gradually replaced by three major Germanic groups: the Franks, Frisians, and Saxons. Around 500 AD, the Franks—then living between the Rhine and the Somme—adopted Christianity under King Clovis I. However, it took until about 1000 AD for all pagans to be Christianized, and the Frisian and Saxon religions died out, though some elements were absorbed into local Christian practice. For centuries afterward, Catholic Christianity was the sole mainstream religion. The rebellious Netherlands, united in the Union of Utrecht in 1579, declared independence from Spain in 1581 during the Eighty Years' War, with Spain finally accepting this in 1648. The revolt was partly religious: during the Reformation, many Dutch adopted Lutheran, Anabaptist, Calvinist, or Mennonite forms of Protestantism, which the Spanish suppressed in support of the Counter-Reformation. After independence, Calvinism became a quasi-state religion (though never formally), but the country practiced some religious tolerance toward non-Calvinists.

Christianity was the dominant religion in the Netherlands until the late 1900s. Since then, religious adherence has declined, though diversity remains. In 2006, 34% of the population identified as Christian; by 2015, that figure had dropped to nearly 25% (11.7% Roman Catholic, 8.6% Protestant Church in the Netherlands, and 4.2% other small Christian denominations). In 2015, 5% were Muslim, and 2% followed Hinduism or Buddhism, according to independent surveys by Radboud University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. About 67.8% of the population had no religious affiliation in 2015, up from 61% in 2006, 53% in 1996, 43% in 1979, and 33% in 1966. The Social and Cultural Planning Agency (SCP) projected that 72% would be non-affiliated by 2020. A large majority of Dutch people believe religion should not play a determining role in politics or education. Religion is also less seen as a social binder and is generally considered a private matter not to be promoted in public. The Dutch constitution guarantees freedom of education, meaning all schools meeting general quality criteria receive equal government funding, including those based on religious principles (especially Roman Catholic and various Protestant). Three political parties in parliament—the CDA, ChristianUnion, and SGP—are based on Christian belief. Several Christian holidays are national holidays (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and Ascension). Atheism began to rise in the late 1800s as secularism, liberalism, and socialism grew; Protestantism and Catholicism notably declined in the 1960s and 1970s. One major exception is Islam, which grew considerably due to immigration. Since 2000, awareness of religion has increased, mainly due to Muslim extremism, but Islam is not considered part of Dutch identity, culture, or tradition. In 2013, a Catholic became queen consort.

A December 2014 survey by VU University Amsterdam found that for the first time, there were more atheists (25%) than theists (17%) in the Netherlands. The majority were agnostic (31%) or ietsist (27%). Atheism, agnosticism, and Christian atheism are rising and widely accepted as non-controversial. Among those who identify as Christian, high percentages are atheist, agnostic, or ietsist, as affiliation with a Christian denomination is often used for cultural identification in different parts of the country. In 2015, a vast majority (82%) said they had never or almost never visited a church, and 59% stated they had never been to any church at all.