At the beginning of this year, the Netherlands had almost 2,600 centenarians. That is more than 400 more than five years ago, which is an increase of almost 20 percent. This is apparent from an analysis of recently updated figures from Statistics Netherlands.
A few years ago, CBS predicted that the group of centenarians would grow rapidly from 2020 onwards as a result of a “small baby boom” after the First World War. 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 of 100 years or older in this province has more than doubled. But if you look at the number of centenarians compared to the population, Flevoland still has the fewest inhabitants of all provinces of one hundred years or older. This share is largest in Zeeland.
Of the municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, Apeldoorn, Breda and Venlo in particular have a relatively high number of centenarians.
More than eight out of ten centenarians are women. Women are on average older than men. It is striking, however, that the group of men aged a hundred years or older has grown relatively faster in recent years than the group of female centenarians.
At 110 years old, Ebeltje Boekema-Hut from Leek (province of Groningen) is currently the oldest Dutch person. According to the earlier forecast by Statistics Netherlands, the Netherlands will have about 3,500 inhabitants of one hundred years or older in 2030.