Currently 37% of the total number of EU frontier workers work in the Benelux and surrounding areas. The Benelux is an economically dynamic and densely populated region, with 5.6% of the European population (29.55 million residents) and 7.9% of the joint EU GDP (€36,000/resident) on 1.7% of the whole surface of the EU. It is now used more generally to refer to the geographic, economic, and cultural grouping of the three countries. The name is a portmanteau formed from joining the first few letters of each country's name and was first used to name the customs agreement that initiated the union (signed in 1944). The Benelux Union ( Dutch: Benelux Unie French: Union Benelux Luxembourgish: Benelux-Unioun) or Benelux is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
