Netherlands Facts

Dutch, on average are the tallest people.

In many Dutch grocery stores, you're required to use a shopping basket if you're only buying a few items, and staff may refuse to let you check out without one.

In 2013, the Netherlands scheduled 19 prisons to be closed due to a lack of criminals.

In Holland, the world’s first public glow-in-the-dark bike path has opened. It features beautiful swirling patterns inspired by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh’s famous 'Starry Night' painting.

Carrots were originally purple, white, and yellow. Orange carrots emerged in 17th-century Netherlands through selective breeding by Dutch growers—possibly as a tribute to William of Orange, though this patriotic origin story may be more legend than fact.

There is a village in the Netherlands called De Hogeweyk that looks like a normal neighborhood with shops, restaurants, and gardens, but is actually a secure care home designed specifically for people with severe dementia.

The Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly (off the coast of England) were technically at war from 1651 to 1986 — 335 years. No shots were fired. No one died. In 1985, a Scilly historian contacted the Dutch Embassy to joke about it. The Dutch ambassador flew to the islands and signed a peace treaty, ending a war nobody knew was still happening.

Audrey Hepburn was a teenager in Nazi-occupied Netherlands. She secretly danced in ballet recitals to fund the Dutch resistance. The rooms stayed blacked out, but nobody clapped. Applause could bring German soldiers running, so audiences stayed silent. Hepburn also hid resistance notes inside her wooden shoes. That starving teenage courier grew up to become a beloved icon and a lifelong UNICEF ambassador.