Just 2.9% of the Dutch working population are employed by the state, compared with 3.3% in the US and 4.7% in the UK, according to new research quoted by the Financieele Dagblad on Tuesday.

The figures are contained in a report by Leiden University researchers due out in December.
It says the low percentage of civil servants in the Netherlands is due to the large number of non-profit organisations in the public sector. These organisations are not part of government but do work which is a state function in other countries.
The current government has made reducing the size of the state sector a central part of its strategy to cut spending.