Oldest Dutch resident dies just days before her 111th birthday
The oldest resident of the Netherlands has died at the age of 110, local broadcaster RTV Rijnmond has reported. Heleen Mackenbach was born in Rotterdam on December 29, 1912, and lived in the port city all her life.
The oldest in a family of five children, Mackenback worked as a teacher at the Fatima school in the city’s Schiebroek district. She had no children and lived with her sister Diny who died at the age of 99.
The oldest known resident of the Netherlands was Hendrikje van Andel who died in 2005 at the age of 115. She had left her body to medical science which revealed her brain was in a similar condition to that of a 60-year-old.
As yet it is not clear who is now the oldest resident of the Netherlands. According to statistics agency CBS, some 5% of the Dutch population is over the age of 80 and some 2,500 people are aged over 100.
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