The Netherlands:Paradigm or Exception in Western Europe’s Demography?

This article reviews the position of the population of the Netherlands in the context of the demographic characteristics of the other seventeen major Western European countries. It attempts to show the ways in which the population of the Netherlands is part of the European mainstream and where it diverges in various interesting ways. Where possible, a (partial) explanation for this divergence will be given.childbearing, demographic comparison, dependency, ethnic minorities, Europe, fertility, immigration, late childbearing, mortality, Netherlands, population density, teenage fertility, Western Europe

Fertility of Turkish and Moroccan women in the Netherlands: Adjustment to native level within one generation

The annual figures on the fertility of Turkish and Moroccan women show that the sharp decline that took place up to the mid nineties was reduced or stagnated. In this paper we use cohort data by generation for the main population groups of non-western origin to show that the first generation only adjusted their fertility slowly to that of the native Dutch women. The first generation of Turkish and Moroccan women even has higher fertility rates than the women in their countries of origin. The realised fertility rate of the second generation, on the other hand, is virtually the same as that of the native Dutch women. Turkish and Moroccan women in their early thirties even have fewer children than native Dutch women that age. Their position is no longer in between the first generation and the native Dutch women, but fertility-wise they are more like the native Dutch than like their mothers.age-specific fertility rates, childlessness, cohort fertility, fertility

Perinatal mortality in the Netherlands. Backgrounds of a worsening international ranking

Perinatal mortality rates have dropped sharply in the past few decades, in the Netherlands as well as in all other European countries. However, as the decrease has generally slowed down since the 1980s, the Netherlands has lost its prominent position in the international ranking of countries with favourable perinatal mortality rates. This lower ranking is not only the result of the dialectics of progress, but also the consequence of a relatively restrained use of antenatal diagnostics. In addition, the Netherlands is among the European countries scoring highest on a number of important risk factors. This article examines the effect on perinatal mortality rates of known risk factors, in particular the presence of non-western foreigners, multiple births and older mothers. With respect to the latter factor, it is concluded that children of older mothers run a significantly higher risk of foetal mortality, whereas babies of young mothers (including women in their early twenties) run a higher risk of infant mortality. For babies of non-western mothers, infant mortality rates are higher, although there are substantial differences between ethnic backgrounds. First week mortality is most unfavourable for Surinamese and Antillean/Aruban children, and post-neonatal mortality is highest among Turkish and Moroccan babies. The fact that relatively many non-western foreigners from countries with relatively high risks of perinatal mortality have settled in the Netherlands, is one of the reasons for the fall in the international ranking. Lastly, the increase in the number of multiple births has been stronger in the Netherlands than in most other countries. The higher incidence of assisted reproduction explains most of this increase.ethnicity, foetal mortality, infant and child mortality, mortality, multiple births, neonatal mortality, perinatal mortality, Peristat, risk factors

150 Years of temperature-related excess mortality in the Netherlands

Even in present-day high-income countries, there is a lot of evidence of a high degree of vulnerability of the population to both high and low outdoor temperatures. The magnitude of temperature-related mortality is strongly related to a wide variety of social, economic, and behavioural factors. To gain insight into the changing impact of cold and heat on mortality, we analyze Dutch individual death records in relation to daily temperature for the period 1855-2006 for one of the 11 Dutch provinces. Making use of negative binomial regression analysis, we study whether the effect of temperature varied by age, sex, and social class, and analyze the changes in the vulnerability to temperature fluctuations.cold spells, heat waves, infant mortality, mortality, Netherlands, temperature

Sharp upturn of life expectancy in the Netherlands: effect of more health care for the elderly?

During the 1980s and 1990s life expectancy at birth has risen only slowly in the Netherlands. In 2002, however, the rise in life expectancy suddenly accelerated. We studied the possible causes of this remarkable development. Mortality data by age, gender and cause of death were analyzed using life table methods and age-period-cohort modeling. Trends in determinants of mortality (including health care delivery) were compared with trends in mortality. Two-thirds of the increase in life expectancy at birth since 2002 were due to declines in mortality among those aged 65 and over. Declines in mortality reflected a period rather than a cohort effect, and were seen for a wide range of causes of death. Favorable changes in mortality determinants coinciding with the acceleration of mortality decline were mainly seen within the health care system. Health care expenditure rose rapidly after 2001, and was accompanied by a sharp rise of specialist visits, drug prescriptions, hospital admissions and surgical procedures among the elderly. A decline of deaths following non-treatment decisions suggests a change towards more active treatment of elderly patients. Our findings are consistent with the idea that the sharp upturn of life expectancy in the Netherlands was at least partly due to a sharp increase in health care for the elderly, and has been facilitated by a relaxation of budgetary constraints in the health care system

Fertility of Turkish and Moroccan women in the Netherlands: Adjustment to native level within one generation

The annual figures on the fertility of Turkish and Moroccan women show that the sharp decline that took place up to the mid nineties was reduced or stagnated. In this paper we use cohort data by generation for the main population groups of non-western origin to show that the first generation only adjusted their fertility slowly to that of the native Dutch women. The first generation of Turkish and Moroccan women even has higher fertility rates than the women in their countries of origin. The realised fertility rate of the second generation, on the other hand, is virtually the same as that of the native Dutch women. Turkish and Moroccan women in their early thirties even have fewer children than native Dutch women that age. Their position is no longer in between the first generation and the native Dutch women, but fertility-wise they are more like the native Dutch than like their mothers