Nearly half of Dutch population included in Donor Register

© Hollandse Hoogte / Frank Muller / Zorginbeeld
On 2 January 2020, 49 percent of the Dutch population aged 18 years and over were included in the Donor Register. This is a total of 6.9 million persons, 556 thousand more than on 2 January 2019. The increase in the number of people giving either general or specific consent for organ donation was larger than in previous years. The number of persons explicitly withholding consent rose on previous years as well. This is evident from figures released by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and the Donor Register.

[video: https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/video/650f380fd7ac43f884216d6a2ecbdf59]

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On 1 July 2020, a new Organ Donation Act will take effect. This act stipulates that all inhabitants of the Netherlands aged 18 and over shall be included in the Donor Register with a record stating ‘no objection against organ donation’ unless they have registered a different preference. At the beginning of this year, 51 percent of Dutch people aged 18 years and over had not yet recorded their decision in the Donor Register.

General or specific consent

On 2 January 2020, the Register included over 6.91 million persons over the age of 18, up from nearly 6.36 million one year previously (2 January 2019). The number of adults giving their (general or specific) consent is growing each year. The increase is larger in 2020 compared to the preceding years. At the beginning of this year, there were 130 thousand more registered consents than at the beginning of 2019. The number of refusals has been rising since 2016, from nearly 1.6 million then to 1.9 million in 2019 and 2.3 million in 2020.

At the start of 2020, 55 percent of those registered indicated they wished to be donors; a share of 34 percent denied consent, while the remaining 11 percent left the decision to surviving relatives or a designated person.

Anyone who has been registered may amend or remove their own preferences in the Donor Register at any time. At the beginning of this year, 38 thousand people had changed their preference from ‘consent’ to ‘no consent’, while 20 thousand persons had reversed their decision and changed from ‘no consent’ to ‘consent’. The majority among those who had changed their preference were 50 to 69 years old.

Mainly 18 and 19-year-olds not yet registered

As of the beginning of this year, almost three-quarters of those aged 18 and 19 had not yet registered their decision. This was also the case for more than half of all 20 to 29-year-olds and over-80s. The share of people in the age group 20 to 69 years giving general or specific consent was almost twice as large as the share giving no consent. Among both 18/19-year-olds and the over-70s, with and without consent was split almost equally.

The Donor Register included relatively more women than men (53 versus 45 percent). Women were also more likely to give their consent for organ donation.

People with a non-western migration background were relatively more often not included in the Donor Register (72 percent) than people with a western migration background (64 percent) or native Dutch people (45 percent). More than three-quarters of first-generation migrants (77 percent) were not included in the Donor Register, against over half of second-generation migrants (54 percent).

People with a non-western migration background were less likely to give consent for organ donation (5 percent) than people with a western migration background (18 percent) or native Dutch people (32 percent).

Regional differences

In 15 municipalities, over 55 percent of the population aged 18 years and over had not yet registered. The top three consisted of Urk (67 percent), Staphorst (65 percent) and Vaals (62 percent).

The municipalities with the highest shares of registered donors (giving general or specific consent) were Goirle and Oost Gelre (37 percent each) and Eersel, Sint-Michielsgestel, Hilvarenbeek, Uitgeest (36 percent).

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