165 murder and manslaughter victims in 2011

There were 165 victims of murder and manslaughter in the  Netherlands in 2011. That is 7 more than in 2010.

Mostly male victims

111 men and 54 women were killed in 2011. 35 percent of the male murder and manslaughter victims were killed with fire arms. This rate was much lower for female victims, of whom 16 percent were killed with fire arms. A third of the male and female victims were knifed to death. Relatively more women than men died of strangulation and suffocation.

Victims of murder and manslaughter

Victim figures stabilised

Over the last 15 years 3 058 people were killed in the Netherlands, of whom 2.6 thousand lived in the Netherlands. The other victims came from elsewhere. In the period 1997-2005 the average was 229 murder and manslaughter victims a year. In the last six years the average was lower and fairly stable at 167 victims per year.

Dutch people with a foreign background more likely to become victims of murder or manslaughter

45 percent of the 2.6 thousand Dutch residents who fell victim to murder and manslaughter in 1997-2011 had a foreign background. Relatively speaking 6 times as many men with a non-western background fell victim to murder or manslaughter than native Dutch men. Men with an Antillean or Aruban background were even 14 times as likely to become victims of murder or manslaughter.

Murder and manslaughter by the victims’ origin, 1997/2011

Most murders in Amsterdam

Relatively speaking most victims fell in Amsterdam, nearly 3 in 100 thousand people over the last five years. The share is also above average in Rotterdam and The Hague.  The murder rate in the three major cities together is three times the national average.

Murder and manslaughter by municipal size, 2007/2011

Jan Hoogenboezem