10.7 million adults have registered their organ donation choice

Until 2020, the Donor Register required an explicit choice regarding donation of organs and tissues after death. Those who did not make a choice were not included in this register. The Donor Act of 1 July 2020 stipulates that all inhabitants of the Netherlands aged 18 and over shall be included in the Donor Register with a record stating ‘no objection to organ donation’, if they do not register their choice. They are considered potential organ donors since the amendment of the law. After a person has died, a doctor always discusses with family or next of kin what is stated in the register. If they can convincingly show that the deceased did not want to be an organ donor, the organ donation will not go ahead in case of 'yes' or 'no objection'.

One and a half times more adults have registered their choice

Since the introduction of the new donor law in 2020, more and more people have indicated their choice regarding organ donation. This means that they explicitly consent or do not consent to organ donation, or that a family member or a designated person decides on potential organ donation. On 1 January 2020, when the old donor act was in force, 49 percent of the Dutch population aged 18 years and over had registered their choice in the Donor Register. This was 73 percent on 1 January 2023.

Nearly 4 in 10 young people have not yet made a choice

Of all age groups, the share of people who have not yet entered their choice in the Donor Register, and are therefore registered as having 'no objection to organ donation', is highest among 18 to 24-year-olds (38 percent). Among 25 to 34-year-olds, 31 percent were registered as having 'no objection', while among the over-65s the proportion was 15 percent.

People aged 25 to 64 were more likely to consent to organ donation than young people (18 to 24 years) and those aged 75 and over. The proportion who gave no consent, on the other hand, rose with increasing age.

No choice twice as high among people born abroad

Almost 40 percent of adults born abroad and included in the Donor Register had not yet indicated their choice, and were therefore recorded in the register as having 'no objection’. This is almost twice as many as among those who themselves, and whose both parents, were born in the Netherlands (21 percent).

Nearly 60 percent of those born in the Netherlands with two parents born abroad gave 'no consent' for organ donation. This is twice as many as among those who themselves, and whose both parents, were born in the Netherlands, or of whom one parent was born abroad.

Changes to ‘no consent’ most prevalent

Anyone registered may amend their own record in the Donor Register at any time. During the period from 1 January 2022 to 1 January 2023, over 10 thousand adults changed their preference from ‘explicit consent’ to ‘no consent’. Three thousand adults changed their record from ‘no consent’ to ‘explicit consent’. Over 20 thousand people who had not yet made a choice chose 'no consent' in 2022, while nearly 10 thousand indicated 'explicit consent'.