More people died in the last week of February than in any equivalent period since the end of the Second World War, Dutch government statistics have shown.

A combination of freezing temperatures and the peak of a long-running flu outbreak pushed the number of deaths up to 3,887, according to figures from national statistics office CBS quoted by AD. Half of those who perished were over the age of 80.

By comparison, an estimated 3,200 people died in the week of the devastating floods of 1953 – though the total Dutch population at the time was 10.4 million compared to 17.2 million today. On average 2,800 people died per week in 2016.

In January 1945, at the peak of the hunger winter at the end of the war, around 4,500 people a week died. Exact figures are unavailable because in those days numbers of deaths were recorded monthly rather than weekly.

Jan Latten, of the CBS, said the record was likely to be surpassed again before long as the population ages. ‘The average life expectancy for a newborn baby is more than 80 for boys and around 85 for girls. But the downside of getting older is that our bodies weaken and we are more vulnerable to things that are associated with natural phenomena such as an extremely cold week in winter.’