Curac ¸ao, with its 444 sq km, is the biggest island of the Netherlands Antilles and is
inhabited by approximately 135,000 inhabitants of over 40 nationalities. It has three
official languages: Dutch, Papiamento and English. The Dutch Kingdom is currently
made up of The Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. The Netherlands
Antilles and Aruba are Dutch overseas self-governing countries in the Caribbean. Defence
and foreign affairs are Kingdom responsibilities, while the people hold Dutch nationality
and citizenship and have full mobility to the Netherlands. The Netherlands Antilles is a
federation of the five islands: Curac ¸ao, Bonaire, Saba, St Eustatius, and St Maarten. At this
moment the Netherlands Antilles are going through a process of constitutional change.
Curac ¸ao and St Maarten will become countries within the Dutch Kingdom on the same
footing as Aruba has been since 1986. The other three islands will each become a sort of
Dutch municipality. These changes are planned to take effect after 2008.