This arrangement lasted until the complete dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, as a unified political entity, in 2010; that year, Curaçao and Sint Maarten became autonomous constituent countries within the Kingdom (like Aruba).

The three Caribbean islands that are special municipalities of the Netherlands alone are Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba.

Bonaire is located in the far south of the Caribbean, being about 80 kilometres north of the coast of Venezuela; Saba is located about 50 kilometres south of Sint Maarten, and boasts the highest mountain in the Netherlands, Mount Scenery, at 880 m (2,887') above sea level).

The populations of the Dutch Caribbean descend from a diverse array of ethnic groups (Europeans, Africans, Natives, Latin-Americans, Jews, Levantine Arabs, Asians etc.

People from Aruba have higher degrees of European and Indigenous ancestry (Mestizos) on average,[6] while people from the other islands (Curaçao, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius) tend to have higher degrees of African ancestry on average.

[7] Inhabitants of the Dutch Caribbean are multi-lingual, speaking 3 to 4 (or more) languages at often high degrees of fluency.

Spanish is widely known and spoken on Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao due to proximity, historical and cultural connections to Venezuela and Colombia.

Other languages such as Portuguese, Haitian Creole, French, Sranan Tongo, German, Chinese, Tagalog are also spoken by smaller communities on the islands.