Netherlands has over 2,500 over age 100

At the start of this year, the Netherlands had 2,572 residents aged 100 or older. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), this is more than twice as many as 20 years ago. And the number will rise even further. The agency expects that the Netherlands will have over 5,000 centenarians around 2040.

The vast majority of centenarians are women. Of those who had celebrated their 100th birthdays by the start of this year, only 400 were men.

Zeeland has proportionately the most centenarians. For every 1,000 Zeelanders aged 80 or older, 4.2 are at least 100 years old. There are also relatively many centenarians in Flevoland. Limburg and Noord-Brabant have the fewest residents aged 100 or older.

Compared to other European countries, the Netherlands has relatively many centenarians. For every 1,000 residents aged 80 or older, 3 are at least 100. That puts the Netherlands at “the tail end of the middle bracket” of Europe, according to CBS. Ireland has approximately five times as many centenarians.