The Dutch by numbers

This month's issue of Holland Herald, KLM's in-flight magazine is devoted to a numbers theme. For example, California's Highway 1 is touted as being one of the world's most scenic drives in an article devoted to pointing out the highway's finer points.

Another article was perfect for in-flight reading. By browsing two pages filled with random statistics, I found out several interesting facts about the Dutch that might be useful to toss out at parties if there is absolutely nothing left to talk about.

Here are five of them:

• In 2008, Sophie has been the most popular name for a girl, and Daan the most popular for a boy.
• On average, women don't marry in the Netherlands until age 32.7, and men don't marry until 35.8.
• When the Dutch want to go on a vacation, France is their number one destination.
• The average Dutch person eats 16.7 kilos of cheese per year.
• On average, a person in the Netherlands drinks 77.4 liters of beer per year. This is a considerable drop from the 300 liters the same person would have downed during the Middle Ages.

Here's one more fact about the Dutch I found out. Each year, they produce 3 million pairs of clogs.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, Food and Drink, Stories, Netherlands, Airlines