At the beginning of this year, the Netherlands had almost 2600 centenarians. That is more than four hundred more than five years ago, which amounts to an increase of almost twenty percent. This is apparent from an analysis by ANP/LocalFocus based on recently updated figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
CBS predicted a few years ago that the group of centenarians would grow rapidly from 2020 onwards due to a “small baby boom” after the First World War. Despite the corona pandemic, that prediction seems to have come true so far. Although a lot more people died in 2020 and 2021 than expected, the number of centenarians has grown significantly in those years.
In Flevoland in particular, the number of centenarians has increased rapidly in recent years. Since 2018, the number of people aged 100 and older in this province has more than doubled. Yet Flevoland, compared to the population, still has the fewest inhabitants of all provinces of one hundred years or older. This share is highest in Zeeland.
Of the municipalities with more than one hundred thousand inhabitants, Apeldoorn, Breda and Venlo in particular have a relatively large number of people over 100. In an absolute sense, most centenarians live in Rotterdam (111) and The Hague (107). Amsterdam (92) then follows on the list.
More than eight in ten centenarians are women. Women are on average older than men. It is striking, however, that the group of men of one hundred years of age or older has grown relatively faster in recent years than the number of female centenarians.
Ebeltje Boekema-Hut from Leek (province of Groningen) is currently the oldest Dutchman at 110 years old. According to the earlier forecast by Statistics Netherlands, the Netherlands will have about 3,500 inhabitants aged a hundred or older in 2030.