Netherlands counts 2,189 residents over 100 years of age

At the start of the year, 2,189 people living in the Netherlands were over 100 years of age, of which 85 percent were women. The total number of centenarians faced a 1.6 percent decline from 2017 figures, but it was still slightly better than last year and well over 13-times more than 1970's official numbers.

If figures continue along the steady trend since 1970, the Netherlands could have 3,520 residents over a hundred years of age by 2030. Statistics Netherlands estimated that 2,811 of those were expected to be women.

The stats agency said there was an average of 2.7 people over a hundred years old for every thousand people over 80 in each municipality. Of all 355 Dutch municipalities, 317 have at least one resident with a centenarian.

The Frisian island of Schiermonnikoog had the most people aged 100-and-up relative to their population, with 67.

At the southwestern end of the Netherlands, Zeeland had the highest proportion of 100-plus people compared to the other 11 Dutch provinces. Noord-Brabant had the fewest.

The number of 100-year-olds in the Netherlands doubled over a 17-year period beginning in 2000.