120 individuals lost their lives in the Netherlands during the year 2024
Crime Statistics in the Netherlands: A Comparative Analysis of Murder Rates Over Two Decades
In the year 2000, the Dutch city of Rotterdam recorded 19 murder or manslaughter victims. Half of these incidents occurred in municipalities with a population exceeding 100 thousand. During the same year, Rotterdam accounted for 223 total victims, with 153 men and 70 women losing their lives to such crimes.
Fast forward to 2024, and the number of victims in Rotterdam had significantly decreased to 11. This downward trend was not exclusive to Rotterdam, as the three largest cities in the Netherlands - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague - recorded the most victims that year. Amsterdam had 18 victims, followed by Rotterdam with 11 and The Hague with 8.
Over the past 25 years, an average of 164 people were killed each year in the Netherlands as a result of murder or manslaughter. However, a notable decrease was observed in the number of male victims. In 2016, the average number of male victims fell to an average of 82 per year, which is half the average in the early 2000s.
The figures for 2024 are not yet available for most European countries, but over the past ten years, an average of 127 victims were reported annually. During this period, an average of 43 women were killed each year.
The Netherlands has one of the lowest murder rates in Europe, with 0.69 victims per 100,000 residents in 2023. This is in contrast to countries like Russia, Ukraine, and Lithuania, which had the highest murder rates during the same year. On the other hand, Italy, Slovenia, and Switzerland recorded the lowest rates.
Intriguingly, Rotterdam had the highest number of murders in 2022 and 2023. However, the available search results do not provide specific information about which city in the Netherlands had the highest number of murder victims in 2022.
A concerning trend emerged between 2020 and 2024, with 30 children under the age of 10 being murdered. Shockingly, 26 of these children were killed by their parents. Moreover, more than half of women killed in the period 2020-2023 (52%) were murdered by their partner or ex-partner.
These statistics underscore the importance of continued efforts to address crime and promote safety in the Netherlands and across Europe.
