This country fact-sheet presents key figures from "Under Pressure: The Squeezed Middle Class". This report analyses the trends of middle-income households in areas such as employment, consumption, wealth and debt, as well as perceptions and social attitudes. It also includes recommendations for protecting middle-class living standards and financial security in the face of economic challenges.

Gains in female education attainment have contributed to a worldwide increase in women’s participation in the labour force, but considerable gaps remain in working hours, conditions of employment and earnings.  More specific data for the Netherlands are available in this country note.

The Netherlands is a global pioneer in water management with a long history of containing flood risks and reclaiming land from the sea. Yet it will need to adapt its water governance policies to meet the looming challenges of shifting demographics, regional development and climate change, according to an OECD report.

Economic performance in The Netherlands is vibrant and growth is expected to remain robust, underpinned by sound public finances, healthy job creation and high levels of confidence. The current economic expansion should be used to speed up implementation of reforms to ensure future stability and support more inclusive labour markets, according to a new report from the OECD.

Following recent Turkish media reports, the OECD would like to clarify that it has published no recent review of Turkey. The publication of the 2014 Economic Survey of Turkey is planned for July.

Turkey’s economy will grow stronger in the coming years, but remains overly dependent on domestic consumption funded by foreign finance, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Turkey.

Even if efficiencies and efficiency claims have been vigorously discussed for decades, they have rarely turned out to be decisive in competition proceedings. Still, their role in competition law has recently gained greater prominence, as witnessed by a number of recent merger decisions in different jurisdictions. This publication reviews the findings from a roundtable discussion held in October 2012.

The OECD’s Annual Meeting at Ministerial Level reinforced member governments’ support across a broad range of key OECD work.

This publication puts forward a research agenda that advocates the importance of market competition, effective market regulation, and competition policies for achieving inclusive growth and shared prosperity in emerging and developing economies. It is the result of a global partnership and shared commitment between the World Bank Group and the OECD.

The economic crisis means global corporate losses have increased significantly. Though most of these claims are justified, some corporations use ‘aggressive tax planning’ to avoid taxes. Governments are working together to detect and deter these undue tax advantages.

Colombia and Mexico are a step closer to beneffiting from cross border tax co-operation and information sharing. Colombia has signed, and Mexico has deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

The OECD is currently developing International VAT/GST Guidelines to address issues of double taxation and unintended double non-taxation, and this work provides a unique basis for the creation of the future international standard for applying VAT to cross-border trade. This was the conclusion of delegates who participated in the inaugural meeting of the OECD Global Forum on VAT, in Paris on 7-8 November.

On 19 October 2012, the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs released for public comment revised proposals concerning the meaning of “beneficial owner” in Articles 10, 11 and 12 of the OECD Model Tax Convention. The OECD has now published the comments received on this revised discussion draft.

On 19 October 2012, the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs released for public comment a revised discussion draft on the definition of “permanent establishment” (Article 5) of the OECD Model Tax Convention. The OECD has now published the comments received on this revised discussion draft.

The fiscal and taxation reforms will be more than ever necessary in China to ensure that growth becomes more inclusive. So far, China has had a major success in reducing the poverty. But additional tax reforms will be needed to reduce further inequality in disposable income and across regions, as well as to help reduce the rural-urban divide.

National tax laws have not kept pace with the globalisation of corporations and the digital economy, leaving gaps that can be exploited by multi-national corporations to artificially reduce their taxes.

The OECD today presented to G20 finance ministers plans for a two-pronged attack on tax avoidance and evasion from both companies and individuals.

The OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs invites public comments on a discussion draft that includes various technical changes to be included in the next update to the OECD Model Tax Convention.

Tax revenues in Latin American countries continue to rise but are lower as a proportion of their national incomes than in most OECD countries. Revenue Statistics in Latin America 2012 shows that Argentina and Brazil have the highest tax revenue to GDP ratio, while Guatemala and Dominican Republic stand at the lower end.

On 15 November 2013, the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA) invited public comments on a discussion draft on technical changes to be included in the next update to the OECD Model Tax Convention. The OECD has now published the comments received on that discussion draft.

Public comments are invited on this discussion draft which deals with work in relation to Actions 8,9, and 10 of the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).

On 19 December 2014, interested parties were invited to comment on the discussion draft on Actions 8, 9 and 10: revisions to Chapter I of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines (Including risk, recharacterisation and special measures) of the BEPS Action Plan. The OECD is grateful to the commentators for their input and now publishes the comments received.

Public comments are invited on a discussion draft which deals with action 12 (Mandatory Disclosure Rules) of the BEPS Action Plan.

On 31 March 2015, interested parties were invited to comment on the discussion draft on Action 12 (Mandatory Disclosure Rules) of the BEPS Action Plan. The OECD is grateful to the commentators for their input and now publishes the comments received.

The OECD’s Annual Meeting at Ministerial Level reinforced member governments’ support across a broad range of key OECD work.

Taxes are potentially among the most effective ways of cutting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, but they are currently – with very few exceptions – underused; and even where used, they are frequently designed in a sub-optimal way.

The leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies today endorsed overhauled global standards proposed by the OECD to crack down on tax evasion and reaffirmed the organisation’s central role in helping governments ensure strong, sustainable and inclusive growth.

OECD urges efforts to better price carbon as new analysis finds that 90% of CO2-emissions are priced below EUR 30 per tonne, a low-end estimate of climate damage, and 60% are not priced at all. Effective Carbon Rates in the OECD and Selected Partner Economies calculates effective carbon rates (ECR) on CO2-emissions from energy use for 41 countries which together use 80% of global emissions.

On 1 December 2015 the OECD agreed on a common way forward in response to a request submitted by the European Commission pursuant to a mandate from EU Member States to include additional fields in the CRS XML Schema. This request was made further to the work of the European Commission and the EU Member States on the implementation of the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Information in Tax Matters within the European Union.

The OECD today agreed a new framework that would allow all interested countries and jurisdictions to join in efforts to update international tax rules for the 21st Century. The proposal for broadening participation in the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project will be presented to G20 Finance Ministers at their next meeting on 26-27 February in Shanghai, China.

Representatives of more than 80 countries and jurisdictions have gathered in Kyoto, Japan to push forward ongoing efforts to update international tax rules for the 21st century, the latest step in the OECD/G20 Project to tackle Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).

Governments should use tax policy to drive forward economic agendas that seek to boost growth while sharing the benefits more evenly within society, according to a new OECD report.

57 delegates from 10 countries and 8 organisations gathered in Montevideo for the 1st regional meeting of the Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit shifting (BEPS) after its launch in Kyoto on 29 June-1st July 2016.

Following the first meeting of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS in Kyoto, Japan, on 30 June-1 July and the regional meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean held in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 21-23 September, more countries and jurisdictions are joining the framework. On 14 October, the Inclusive Framework on BEPS welcomed Andorra as its 86th member.

Following the first meeting of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS in Kyoto, Japan, on 30 June-1 July and the regional meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean held in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 21-23 September, more countries and jurisdictions are joining the framework. On 14 October, the Inclusive Framework on BEPS welcomed Republic of Congo as its 87th member.

Following the first meeting of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS in Kyoto, Japan, on 30 June-1 July and the regional meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean held in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 21-23 September, more countries and jurisdictions are joining the framework. On 28 October, the Inclusive Framework on BEPS welcomed Panama as its 87th member.

More than 100 jurisdictions have concluded negotiations on a multilateral instrument that will swiftly implement a series of tax treaty measures to update international tax rules and lessen the opportunity for tax avoidance by multinational enterprises.

56 delegates from 13 countries gathered in Tunis for the first regional meeting of the Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) after its launch in Kyoto on 30 June-1 July 2016. This meeting belongs to a new series of events that offer participants from different regions in the world the opportunity to feed their views and provide their input into the Inclusive Framework on BEPS.

Following the first meeting of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS in Japan, on 30 June-1 July, and recent regional meetings, more countries and jurisdictions are joining the framework. The Inclusive Framework on BEPS welcomed Macau (China), Mauritius and Ukraine bringing to 90 the total number of countries and jurisdictions participating on an equal footing in the Project.

Fifty delegates from sixteen countries, four international organisations, business and civil society gathered in Manila for the first regional meeting of the Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit shifting (BEPS) in the Asia-Pacific region after the launch of the Inclusive Framework in Kyoto on 30 June-1st July 2016.

More than 60 delegates from 14 countries gathered in Vilnius for the first regional meeting of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS in the region. This meeting was the last of a series of regional events in 2016 intended to offer countries in different regions of the world the opportunity to feed their views and provide their input into the Inclusive Framework on BEPS.

Following the first meeting of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS in Japan, on 30 June-1 July, and recent regional meetings, more countries and jurisdictions are joining the framework. The Inclusive Framework on BEPS welcomed Kazakhstan, Côte d’Ivoire and Bermuda bringing to 94 the total number of countries and jurisdictions participating on an equal footing in the project.

Malaysia has followed a comparatively equitable development path, largely eliminating absolute poverty and greatly reduced ethnic inequality.

As part of its ongoing efforts to maintain the integrity of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), the OECD is today launching a disclosure facility on the AEOI portal which allows interested parties to report potential schemes to circumvent the CRS.Over 1800 bilateral exchange relationships in place for the exchange of CRS information.

The Inclusive Framework on BEPS ("IF") welcomes Djibouti as its newest member, bringing to 97 the total number of countries and jurisdictions participating on an equal footing in the project. Djibouti also joins the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes as its 141st member.

On 5 May, the OECD launched a public disclosure facility for information on schemes designed to circumvent the application of the Common Reporting Standard.

Thailand has become the 98th jurisdiction to join the Inclusive Framework on BEPS (“IF”) and will participate on an equal footing with all other IF members at the next plenary meeting of the IF that will be held on 21-22 June 2017 in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

Ministers and high-level officials from 76 countries and jurisdictions have signed today or formally expressed their intention to sign an innovative multilateral convention that will swiftly implement a series of tax treaty measures to update the existing network of bilateral tax treaties.

Over 200 delegates from 83 countries and jurisdictions as well as 12 international and regional organisations met in Noordvijk, The Netherlands, on 21-22 June 2017 for the Third Meeting of the Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).

Barbados has become the 101st jurisdiction to join the Inclusive Framework on BEPS (“IF”).