125 people murdered in the Netherlands in 2023

© Hollandse Hoogte
There were 125 victims of homicide or manslaughter in the Netherlands in 2023: 84 men and 41 women. That was 18 fewer than in the previous year, but around the same as the average over the past decade. More than half of female victims were killed by a partner or ex-partner during that period. This is according to new figures released by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

Over the past decade (2014-2023), an average of 129 people were killed each year in the Netherlands as a result of murder or manslaughter.

Number of male victims has halved since 1996

The total number of victims of homicide and manslaughter has been declining for some time. In 1996, there were 171 male victims and 69 female victims in the Netherlands. Particularly among men, the number fell sharply until 2016, with some fluctuations from year to year. After a peak in 2017, the number of people murdered stabilised at an average of 84 per year. That is about half the number of victims in 1996. The number of women murdered has also fallen, but by less than the number of male victims. Over the past decade, the number of female victims remained around the same - an average of 41 victims per year.

In the last decade, 73 percent of victims were aged between 20 and 60 years old, 10 percent were younger than 20 years old, and the remaining 17 percent were 60 years old or more.

Women often killed by partner or ex-partner

In 96 percent of murder cases involving a female victim in the period 2014-2023, the police had identified the perpetrator or a suspect. More than half of these women (54 percent) were murdered by their partner or ex-partner. The number was 70 percent among women aged between 20 and 60 years old. One in five women were killed by a relative. Female victims were often killed in their own homes using a stabbing weapon or by strangulation.

In the case of male victims, a perpetrator was identified in 87 percent of cases. In three in ten cases, the perpetrator or suspect was already known to the victim. Nearly one in eight male homicide victims were involved in organised crime. Three-quarters of male victims were murdered with a firearm or stabbing weapon.

Young victims mainly killed by a parent

Between 2014 and 2023, 61 children under the age of 10 were murdered: 35 boys and 26 girls. Nearly all of them (54 children) were killed by their own father or mother.

Number of people prosecuted for murder or manslaughter remained almost the same

Since 2019, the number of people charged with murder or manslaughter who are summoned to appear in court to face criminal charges has remained virtually the same. Every year, around 100 people are prosecuted for murder or manslaughter in the Netherlands. In recent years, there have been fewer cases involving murder and more involving manslaughter, in relative terms. In 2019, more than 70 percent of suspects were charged with murder, but in 2023 that share fell below 50 percent for the first time in 20 years.

The proportion of women charged with murder or manslaughter has been on the rise in recent years. In 2023, 10 percent of cases involved a female perpetrator, up from 6 percent in 2019. Suspects had an average age of 37 years when the crime concerned was committed.

Most cases of murder and manslaughter happen in the Netherlands’ three largest cities

Half of all homicides occurred in municipalities with a population of over 100 thousand. In 2023, the three largest cities in the Netherlands had the most victims: in Rotterdam there were twelve victims, followed by Amsterdam with ten and The Hague with nine. Rotterdam was also the city with the highest murder rate in 2022.

Murder rate in the Netherlands is relatively low

Within Europe, the Netherlands is among the countries with the lowest murder rates. In 2022, the countries with the lowest murder rates (measured by the number of murder victims per 100 thousand people) were Switzerland, Italy and Norway. The highest murder rates in 2022 were in former Soviet states such as Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Moldova and Lithuania. The figures for 2023 are not yet available.

Globally, the country with the highest murder rate is Jamaica with 53 murders per 100 thousand inhabitants in 2022. That is 66 times higher than in the Netherlands. The murder rates in South Africa, Honduras and Saint Lucia were also much higher than the murder rate in the Netherlands. The United States’ murder rate was 8 times higher than that of the Netherlands. Japan’s murder rate, on the other hand, was over 3 times lower.

Sources

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