The size of the benefit depends on the number of years the recipient was insured. People between the ages of 15 and 65 who left the Netherlands for a certain period to settle elsewhere cannot claim full AOW entitlement. Each year a person lives outside the Netherlands or the AOW contribution is not paid, the benefit is cut back by 2%. Over-65s who come to live to the Netherlands for the first time are not at all entitled to AOW. Not everybody who is entitled to AOW applies for a benefit.
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