Dutch 100-year-olds doubled since 2000

According to figures from Statistics Netherlands, on October 1st, 2014, the Netherlands had almost 2.2 thousand residents who are 100 years old or older. This is more than twice as many as on January 1st, 2000. Hundred plussers, together with the ninety plussers, form the fastest growing age group in Dutch society. The increase is almost entirely attributable to declining mortality rates in advanced ages. Numerous publications indicate that people over the age of 100 are remarkably healthy and few suffer from chronic degenerative diseases. Compared to the rest of Europe the Netherlands lags behind in the proportion of people aged over 100 in the population. In the Netherlands there are 115 hundred plussers over a million inhabitants. In France, Spain, Italy and Greece, that number is almost twice as high.