On 1 January, there were 2,225 people over the age of 100 living in the Netherlands, 142 more than on the same date in 2016 and more than double the total of 20 years ago, the national statistics office CBS said on Wednesday.

The number of people passing the 100 mark equates to 128 per million inhabitants. As rosy as the figures may appear to be, the Netherlands is ranked only 18th in Europe. The European list is topped by Greece (565 per million), Portugal and France.

The CBS says the number of centenarians in the Netherlands is expected to pass the 4,000 mark in 2031. Women account for twice as many of the over-100s as men.

The number of people in the Netherlands passing the 80-year mark also increased but at a slower pace to 642,000 per million in the past 20 years. The number of people in  their 90s rose by 90% to 112,000 per million.