the four parts of the kingdom—the netherlands, aruba, curaçao and sint maarten—are constituent countries ("landen" in dutch) and participate on a basis of equality as partners in the kingdom. in practice, however, most of the kingdom's affairs are administered by the netherlands—which comprises roughly 98% of the kingdom's land area and population—on behalf of the entire kingdom. consequently, aruba, curaçao, and sint maarten are dependent on the netherlands for matters like foreign policy and defence, but are autonomous to a certain degree, with their own parliaments.