Dutch emigrants in the 50-69 age group have accumulated more wealth than people their own age who live in the Netherlands. The contrast is even more striking in the case of married couples in this age category, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

Between 2000 and 2010, some 56,000 people aged 50 and older left the Netherlands. Statistics Netherlands registered 31,000 Dutch people returning in the same period.

The CBS discovered in its research that emigrants buy more shares and that their assets – excluding their own homes - are worth twice as much compared with their Dutch peers. It is likely they have one or more properties abroad.

Marital status is an important factor in the findings of the CBS. Married men aged between 50 and 69 are better off financially than their peers back in the Netherlands. But in the case of single and divorced men and widowers, the situation is the exact opposite.

A different pattern emerges with emigrant widows and divorced women in the 50-plus category. The average Dutch emigrant single woman has more money living abroad than in the Netherlands.

(jn/imm)

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