The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) thinks 65-year-olds will have a life expectancy of 20.82 years by 2026. The corona crisis is unlikely to have a negative effect on this, the institute reports Friday. Life expectancy in 2026 is relevant for the state pension age in that year, which the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment will determine later this year.
The life expectancy of 65-year-olds has been increasing since 1950. At that time, 65-year-olds still had an average of 14.3 years to live, in 2019 this had already increased to 20.1 years. According to the current forecast, 65-year-olds will therefore live 0.7 years longer in 2026 than now.
The corona crisis will affect life expectancy this year. Especially in the first nine weeks of the pandemic this spring, mortality in the Netherlands was higher than average. Even now, more people are dying from the corona virus. Statistics Netherlands estimates that life expectancy in 2020 will be several months to a year lower than if there had not been a corona crisis.
The institute believes that the upward trend in life expectancy will soon recover. Many people died as a result of the Spanish flu and during the Second World War, but life expectancy soon returned to the old level. Therefore, the corona crisis probably has no effect on the state pension age.
From 2026, the state pension age will be linked to life expectancy. The state pension age will then not rise one year per year that we live longer, but by eight months. A bill assumes a minimum age of 67 years.
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