In total, 1,835 people killed themselves in the Netherlands last year, down slightly on the 2013 total, the national statistics office CBS said on Thursday.

This means an average of five people a day take their own lives. Most are aged between 40 and 65 and men are twice as likely as women to kill themselves, the CBS said.

The province of Groningen has the highest suicide rate at just over 13 cases per thousand people. In Utrecht, by contrast, the suicide rate is under nine per thousand.

The figures were published two days after the suicide of high profile Dutch writer and poet Joost Zwagerman.