NETHERLANDS - The life expectancy of the Dutch population has increased much more than initially forecast, the Actuarial Society (AG) has suggested.

Moreover, the rise of the expected average age is also accelerating, according to the AG which based its calculations on figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

The AG said men born between 2002 and 2007 are now likely to live almost four months longer - to up to almost 77 on average - compared to the recognised prognosis.

Whereas the forecasted age of women born in the same period was 81 years and one month, the observed rise is exceeding this by approximately three months, the AG said, adding that the observed age rise applies to all age cohorts.

In its most recent prognosis against figures produced at the end of 2008, the CBS has raised the expected age for men who are born now from 81.5 years to 83.2 years, while women's average age is forecast to rise from 84.2 to 85.5 years.

The AG said these developments are reason to review its prognosis and to make new and generations-based life expectancy tables too.

The new prognosis will focus on the situation in 2050, which is used by many Dutch pension funds for calculating their liabilities.

"People living longer by two or three years will make a noticeable difference to pension funds' expenses, in particular if the official retirement age of 65 remains unchanged," commented Jan Kuné, professor of actuarial sciences.

"However, future changes in additional measures, to mitigate the costs of population ageing, could largely compensate for the effect of pensioners living longer," he pointed out.

That said, the new figures are not alarming In Kuné's opinion.

"They are not totally unexpected, like the market crisis. Pension funds are already carefully taking the developments on life expectancy into account within their policy," he said.

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