[On Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper and other remarkable developments in the life expectancy of the Dutch population]

The Netherlands was home to the oldest living individual in the world, Mrs. Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, until she died at the age of 115 years on 30 August 2005. She illustrated the remarkable increase in centenarians in many European countries resulting from substantial increases in life expectancy at birth. In 2004, life expectancy at birth in the Netherlands reached a record high of 76.9 years for men and 81.4 years for women. These developments raise important questions on the potential for further increases in life expectancy. Based on an extrapolation of recent trends in cause-specific mortality, Netherlands Statistics predicts an increase in life expectancy of 2 to 3 years in the half-century between 2004 and 2050. Experts are deeply divided about the prospects for further increases in life expectancy. Some have argued that such estimates are too optimistic because, for example, the obesity epidemic might even reduce average life expectancy in the future. Others consider these estimates too pessimistic because, for example, previous estimates of limits to life expectancy have almost always been surpassed. Even relatively modest increases in life expectancy at birth, however, will pose important challenges to health care, social services and pension arrangements.