The Hague, Den Haag or 's-Gravenhage, is the capital of the province of South Holland. The city is home to the Dutch government and parliament, and it is the residence of the royal family. Although The Hague is not the capital of the Netherlands, it does fulfill that role. Almost all embassies and ministries are located in The Hague. In addition, the city is the seat of various national and international courts, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

There are many primary and secondary schools that provide education at the levels from VMBO to gymnasium. Examples include the Christelijk College De Populier, the Segbroek College, the Maerlant-Lyceum, the Wateringse Veld College, the Dalton The Hague, the Zandvliet College, the Edith Stein College, the Roman Catholic Primary School De Paradijsvogel, the Lyceum Ypenburg, the Vrijzinnig -Christelijk Lyceum and The Hague Montessori Lyceum. The Hague has two independent gymnasiums: the Gymnasium Haganum and the Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet. In addition, there are also private secondary schools such as Luzac College and Winford College.

For MBO, The Hague has the ROC Mondriaan, where 17,000 students follow secondary vocational training in 170 disciplines.

Although the city does not have a large independent university, there are the T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague Forum for Judicial Expertise, the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague Academy for International Law, Campus The Hague (which is a branch of Leiden University), The Hague University of Applied Sciences ( which offers a number of bachelor's studies and three English-language master's programs under the name The Hague University of Applied Sciences), Hogeschool Inholland The Hague, Hotelschool The Hague and a branch of Hogeschool Helicon. It is also home to one of the Netherlands' largest and most prominent institutions in the field of art education, namely The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Music and Dance. This consists of the Royal Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Visual Arts.

The Hague also has a number of Dutch schools that provide international education. Examples include: the Haagsche Schoolvereeniging (primary education), the International School of The Hague (primary and secondary education) and some foreign schools: the British School in the Netherlands (primary education), American School of The Hague (primary and secondary education) ), the Lycée Vincent van Gogh de la Haye (primary and secondary education) and the Deutsche Internationale Schule The Hague (primary and secondary education). In addition, there are some schools that are linked to embassies: the Polish School, Indonesian School and the Ukrainian School.

Most employment in the city, for 26% or 56,000 people in 2006, is provided by the government and international organizations. Major employers from this sector include the Municipality of The Hague and the Ministries of Defense, Justice, VROM, Foreign Affairs, the Interior and Transport, Public Works and Water Management.

Other important sectors in the city are business services with 19% of employment, healthcare with 14%, leisure economics with 10%, small-scale manufacturing and wholesale with 10%, and the TMT (Technology, Media and Telecom) sector with 10% . The 10 largest commercial employers account for 11% of employment: KPN, ING Bank, PostNL, T-Mobile, HTM, AEGON, Siemens, Ahold and Shell.