The Netherlands has a very stable economy with little problems, and the world bank has classified the Netherlands as a high income country. Zimbabwe, however, seems to be on the opposite end of the spectrum, classified as a low income country. Zimbabwe has a population of 14.15 million, but their GDP in 2013 was only 13.49 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, the Netherlands has a population of 16.8 million, but had a GDP of 853.5 billion US dollars in 2013. Why is it that Zimbabwe is making such a small amount of money compared to the Netherlands when the difference in their population isn't that large? To answer that question, on this page of the website you can find a thorough comparison of both countries' economies. Some of the main focuses will be: International trade, unemployment rates, poverty, and wealth distribution.
International Trade
The export products for Zimbabwe are mainly low-quality products and for the Netherlands mainly high-quality products. The reason for Zimbabwe is that they have a lot of raw materials and for raw materials a country got less money than for high-quality products. The reason that Zimbabwe only produce low-quality products is because they don't have enough factories with workers to make the high-quality products. The government in Zimbabwe is target more to get fast a lot of money then to invest in the factories to produce high-quality products that produce more money. The reason that the Netherlands produce mainly high-quality products is because the Netherlands is a high developed country. High-quality products produce more money and that is better for a country.
The Netherlands main trade partners are mainly high developed countries around the Netherlands like Germany, Belgium and the UK. This comes mainly because the Netherlands change their product that they to many produce. The Netherlands import the products that other countries make and that the Netherlands needs to have. Zimbabwe's main trade partners are mainly countries around Zimbabwe because the trade between the countries is than easier. A large part of the raw products that Zimbabwe have are going to countries that of raw products high-quality products make like China, UK and Singapore.
Unemployment Rates
In the Netherlands, the unemployment rate is very low, at only 5.3%, and although the formal unemployment rate is officially 84% in Zimbabwe, the actual unemployment rate is unknown. The reason for this is that it's very hard for people to get a job in Zimbabwe because of the strict regulations that make it difficult to hire or fire workers, and the fact that many women in the country don't work in formal employment because they need to have permission from their husband or a male family member. Because it's so difficult to get into formal employment, most people work informal jobs in Zimbabwe, making it difficult to track exactly how many people are employed. An estimate for the actually unemployment rate is about 10%, but many critics say that this estimate grossly underestimates the unemployment problem in Zimbabwe. One thing is for sure, though, the unemployment rate is much higher than in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands it's much easier to get a job, so the majority of the population are formally employed. The Netherlands, unlike Zimbabwe, has a steadily growing economy, and there are many new job openings being created. The Netherlands does have benefits for those who are unemployed, but the amount of money the government gives them decreases the longer they don't have a job. The system outlines that for the first two months, "initial unemployment benefits are paid out at 75% of the average wage you've earned over the 12 months (the current month not included), and 70% after two months, depending on your circumstances", with this system, the government helps people who don't have a job, but also encourage them to find a new one because the amount of benefits they get decreases over the months.
Poverty & Wealth Distribution
The poverty in Zimbabwe was went up to 80% in 2007. The people they did work were barely paid, and the average salary was one US dollar per month. The richest 10% of the population in Zimbabwe making 40.4% of the economy and the poorest 10% of the population only making 1.9% of the economy. The inequality in Zimbabwe is so you can see very large. In the Netherlands is a little inequality but it is not very large like in Zimbabwe. The salaries and wages in Zimbabwe are also highly skewed in terms of group, class, sex and race. In the Netherlands are the wages only difference when you have a different job but not when you are a different group, class, sex or race. The education in Zimbabwe is very different. The Europeans are usually educated and more skilled than the African population. In the Netherlands there is only a difference in education if you were educated at a other level.
To Conclude...
It is very obvious that Zimbabwe is doing much worse than the Netherlands in many parts of their economy, most of this being because of Zimbabwe’s poorly conducted and sometimes corrupt government choices. Poverty, unequal distribution of wealth, trade sanctions and embargoes, unemployment rates and much more contributing to Zimbabwe’s shrinking economy. Netherlands is doing very well, especially when compared to Zimbabwe, because they have a stable and growing economy with many new job openings. They do have a few problems, but none of them are as extreme as the ones that Zimbabwe is facing.