The number of murders rose slightly last year to 126. Five more people were killed than in 2020, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands.
Men over the age of forty in particular were more often victims (+11), young women less so (-6). A third of all murders were committed in the three largest cities of Amsterdam (15), Rotterdam (15) and The Hague (11). Last year it was a quarter.
More than half of the women had been killed by their (ex) partners. Men are more often killed by strangers. Children under the age of 10 – there were 31 last year – have almost all been killed by their father or mother.
The number of murders has been stable over the past five years and is on average at 123. At the beginning of this century it was almost twice as much. Researchers from Leiden University concluded last year that this can partly be explained by decreasing inequality in society. It also appears that there are fewer ‘quarrel killings’. The internet may be the explanation for this. People are more often looking for entertainment behind the screen, which means they are less likely to get into violent conflict. The number of homicides in the criminal environment remains virtually the same. This often concerns quarrels in the drug trade, about rip deals or liquidations.
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