19 Important Pros and Cons of Living in the Netherlands

The people of the Netherlands welcome visitors from across the globe to discover their amazing history, but what about foreigners who decide to make their visit permanent? How does the Netherlands treat its new residents?

Can Western expats expect to struggle daily to learn a complex system of societal norms? Or is it easy to jump into life in this northern European country and pass for a Dutch person? After moving my small family and me to the Netherlands from Minneapolis, I learned a few things directly from experience.

Overall, the Netherlands is a welcoming country to foreigners, and the population takes seriously the treatment of all its citizens and visitors in an egalitarian and just manner.

More than half of Amsterdam’s citizens weren’t born in the country’s capital, which shows that the Dutch people have a welcoming attitude toward outsiders.

Nonetheless, you may find it helpful to learn more about the country’s quirks, history, and standard modes of behavior before packing up everything you own and making the big move. Here are some pros and cons of living in the Netherlands, which may help you as you decide whether to make Holland your home country.

Let us now discuss the ups and downs of living in the Netherlands. As you read through these pros and cons, remember that this list is subjective, and what might appeal to you may not appeal to someone else.

You may find that some of these drawbacks don’t actually apply to you, or you don’t care about them.

Pros and Cons of Living in the Netherlands

Before we launch into a discussion about all the awesome things about the Netherlands and the not-so-awesome things, let’s learn a little about the country, its people, and its history.

Thousands of years ago, the area was inhabited by various Germanic tribes that would eventually become conquered by invading Romans.

Through the centuries, different groups would control the area. Still, the culture of the Netherlands, as we know it today, would cement itself in the 1600s during the expansion of the Dutch empire and the rise of the Dutch East India Company.

One of the most unique facets of the Netherlands is its language. The fog of history conceals the earliest language history, but to the untrained ear today, Dutch sounds a little like German.

For foreigners, the Dutch language is one of the toughest parts of moving to the Netherlands, mainly because of the conversational English that…