Dutch murder rate drops to a 22-year low

There were 137 murders in the Netherlands last year, the lowest total since 1992, according to calculations by current affairs magazine Elsevier.

‘It feels as if there were more, but gangland killings and armed robberies resulting in death have skewed the picture,’ the magazine said.

Gangland killings accounted for 24 murders in 2014, or 17% of the total. Thirteen of the gangland killings took place in Amsterdam, out of a total of 23 murders in the Dutch capital. Five people were killed in armed robberies last year, of whom three were elderly.

In the 1990s, there was an average of 250 murders a year. One explanation for the shift could be the greying population, Elsevier suggests. ‘The elderly are less likely to commit crimes than youngsters and are more often home,’ the magazine says.

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