Netherlands now officially has more elderly residents than young people
For the first time, the Netherlands has more elderly residents than young people. Approximately 3.76 million people are 65 years old or older, while almost 3.72 million residents are under 20. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) attributes this development to the aging population and migration.
CBS also looked ahead about half a century to estimate how the Dutch population would develop. According to the forecast, the Netherlands is likely to have over 20.6 million inhabitants by 2070. This is consistent with previous calculations. Just under 5.4 million of them will be 65 or older, while almost 4.1 million will be under 20, the agency estimates.
Not only are there more senior citizens, but they are also getting older. Currently, over 900,000 Nethelrands residents are over the age of 80. That number is expected to rise to around 2.1 million in the coming decades. In the same period, the number of people aged 99 and over is expected to rise from around 4,400 to over 38,000.
The group between young and old is of working age. Their taxes pay for young people’s education and elderly people’s healthcare. Currently, 59 percent of the population is between 20 and 65 years old. In about 15 years, that will drop to 55 percent.
The exact number of inhabitants around 2070 is very difficult to predict. The population could fall to 17.5 million. That is less than the current population of approximately 18.1 million. However, the number could also rise to almost 24 million.
CBS expects that more babies will be born than people will die in the coming decades. Currently, it is the other way around.
The rate at which the population of the Netherlands grows also depends on migration. People move to the Netherlands to work or to apply for asylum, while others move away, including to return to their country of origin. CBS expects immigration to decline and emigration to increase in the coming years. Even then, there will likely be more arrivals than departures, but the gap will narrow.
Reporting by ANP
