One in four Dutch would be an organ donor, included in register

Some 24% of the Dutch population are included in the official register as potential organ donors, the national statistics office CBS said on Tuesday.

In total, two million women and 1.6 million men have agreed to donate their organs and tissue after their death.

Some 40% of the Dutch population over the age of 12 is included in the register. One in 20 say it is up to their relatives to decide what should happen after their death and 11% have said they do not want to be donors, the CBS figures show.

The older people are, the less likely they are to agree to their organs being transplanted after their death, the CBS said. Although just 17% of 12 to 25-year-olds have registered their wishes, 75% of them are willing to be donors.

According to the Dutch transplant foundation, around 1,000 people in the Netherlands are on the waiting list for an organ. Most of them need a kidney.