172 thousand deaths in 2024

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© Hollandse Hoogte / Ton Toemen
A total of 172 thousand people died in the Netherlands in 2024. That was 2.5 thousand more than in 2023. There were more deaths among women and older people, in particular. Life expectancy among men increased in 2024, while among women it remained virtually unchanged. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of provisional annual figures.

The annual number of deaths is increasing due to the Netherlands’ growing and ageing population. The death rate rose sharply at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, relative to the period prior to that. After a few years of relative stability, the number of deaths increased again in 2024.

More deaths among women than among men

A total of 87.2 thousand women and 84.9 thousand men died in 2024. The increase relative to the previous year was greater for women than for men. Annual mortality has been higher among women than men since 1997. This is because there are more elderly women in the population, because women live longer on average. Only in 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic, did more men die than women.

Increase in number of deaths due to ageing population

In 2024, 57 percent of deaths occurred among those aged 80 and over. There were 2.3 thousand more deaths in this age group than in 2023. The increase was smaller among those aged 65 to 79 years (0.4 thousand). In 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, mortality among those aged 80 and over increased significantly, but in the three subsequent years it remained fairly stable. During the first year of the pandemic, the number of deaths in other age groups also increased, and rose still further in 2021, before falling again slightly.

Mortality higher among users of long-term care

In 2024 there were 69.2 thousand people receiving long-term care, such as residents of nursing care homes or care centres for disabled persons. That was 3.2 thousand more than in 2023. The increase was largest among women aged 65 to 79 (7 percent) and among men aged 80 or older (8 percent). There was also an increase in the number of deaths among people receiving long-term care: this increase (5 percent) is greater than the growth in the number of users of long-term care (2 percent).

Life expectancy higher

Life expectancy at birth was 80.5 years for men and 83.3 year for women in 2024. For men that was an increase in life expectancy of three months compared to 2023, and for women it was a decrease of one month.

Life expectancy generally increases slightly every year, but it saw a slight drop at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Life expectancy has been on the rise again since 2022. For men, life expectancy is now slightly higher than it was before the coronavirus pandemic, while for women it remains slightly lower.

Sources

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