Death in Dutch numbers

1. 172,051 deaths in 2024

That is the provisional CBS figure for last year, about 2,500 more than in 2023. Of those, 87,200 were women and 84,851 were men. The annual number of deaths is rising slowly because the Dutch population is growing and ageing, not because death itself is becoming more common. Source: CBS, "172 thousand deaths in 2024" (July 2025).

2. 80.5 years for men, 83.3 years for women

Life expectancy at birth in 2024. Men gained roughly three months compared to 2023; for women the figure was almost unchanged. The gap between the sexes (about 2.8 years) has been narrowing slowly over decades. Source: CBS life expectancy, 2024.

3. 57 percent of deaths happen at age 80 or above

In 2024, about 97,600 of the people who died in the Netherlands were 80 or older. The share has been climbing for years and is the main reason annual death counts keep rising. The implication for families: most deaths in the Netherlands are not sudden. They follow a long final chapter, often shaped by frailty or chronic illness, in which preparation is possible. Source: CBS, 2024.

4. The leading causes are cancer, cardiovascular disease, and dementia

CBS groups causes of death into a few large categories. For years, cancer (kanker) and cardiovascular disease (hart- en vaatziekten) have been the two largest, together accounting for roughly half of all deaths, with cancer the larger share. Dementia is rising rapidly as the population ages. Specific cancers most often cited as causes are lung, colorectal, breast (in women), and prostate (in men). Source: CBS, "Deaths; underlying cause of death" (table 7052, regularly updated).

5. About 70 percent are cremated

Cremation became the dominant choice in the Netherlands around 2003 and has continued to grow. Industry figures and CBS data put the current share at roughly 65 to 70 percent cremation, 30 to 35 percent burial (the Cremation Society of Great Britain's international statistics put the 2023 NL share at 68.4 percent cremation). The cost difference between the two paths is real but smaller than most people assume; ceremony, location, coffin, and catering usually weigh more in the final bill. Source: CBS funeral statistics; LVC (Landelijke Vereniging van Crematoria) annual reports.

6. Around four in ten people die at home

Reliable national breakdowns by place of death are released less frequently than total deaths, and the share shifts year to year. Recent Palliaweb / Nivel data for 2024 put deaths at home at around 37.5 percent, in nursing homes (verpleeghuizen) at around 29 percent, in hospitals at around 17.7 percent, and in hospices at about 4.2 percent. Men die at home more often than women, partly because they are more likely to have a partner who provides care. Source: Palliaweb / Nivel, 2024 figures.

7. 9,958 reported euthanasia cases in 2024

The Regional Euthanasia Review Committees (Regionale Toetsingscommissies Euthanasie) received 9,958 reports in 2024, about 5.8 percent of all deaths and a 10 percent rise on 2023. In 86 percent of cases the underlying suffering was a serious physical illness such as cancer, neurological disease, lung disease, or cardiovascular disease. The committees judged 9,952 of the cases to have met the legal "due care" criteria. Source: Regionale Toetsingscommissies Euthanasie, "Tien procent meer meldingen euthanasie in 2024" (March 2025).

8. About 4.8 million adults have registered consent for organ donation

Under the Active Donor Registration system that took effect on 1 July 2020, every adult in the Netherlands is asked to register a choice. By 1 January 2024, 10.6 million adults were recorded in the donor register. Of those, around 4.8 million gave consent, around 4.3 million did not, around 1.5 million delegated the decision to next of kin or another designated person, and about 3.3 million had not recorded an active preference and so are listed as having no objection. The single most useful thing you can do, regardless of your choice, is make sure your family knows it. Source: CBS, "Over 4 million people withhold consent for organ donation" (2024).

What these numbers do not say

Statistics describe averages. They do not predict your life or anyone else's. The 80-year average life expectancy includes people who die in their forties and people who live to 100. The 70 percent cremation share includes families who chose it after careful conversation and families who chose it because no preference had been recorded.

The most useful function of these numbers may be that they remove some of the strangeness. Death in the Netherlands has a rough shape: usually after age 80, often at home or in a nursing home, increasingly with cremation, sometimes through euthanasia, almost always preceded by months or years in which something could have been written down. Most of what makes it bearable for the people left behind is decided in that earlier window.

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Sources

1. CBS, "172 thousand deaths in 2024" (July 2025). https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2025/07/172-thousand-deaths-in-2024
2. CBS, life expectancy figures 2024 (life tables and dashboard population). https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/visualisations/dashboard-population/life-events/death
3. CBS, "Deaths; underlying cause of death (shortlist), sex, age" (table 7052). https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/figures/detail/7052eng
4. Regionale Toetsingscommissies Euthanasie, "Tien procent meer meldingen euthanasie in 2024" (March 2025) and figures for 2020 to 2024. https://www.euthanasiecommissie.nl/cijfers-2020-2024
5. CBS, "Over 4 million people withhold consent for organ donation" (2024). https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2024/35/over-4-million-people-withhold-consent-for-organ-donation
6. LVC, Landelijke Vereniging van Crematoria, annual cremation statistics. https://www.lvc-online.nl/