The number of people who have registered their objections to organ donation in the Dutch national register has reached 1.7 million – or 41% of those eligible to do so – according to new figures from national statistics agency CBS.

In total, more than six million people aged 12 and older have now registered whether or not they are willing to be a donor, the CBS said. Of them, 3.6 million have given an unrestricted yes, 1.7 million have said no and others have placed conditions on transplanting their organs or have said their relatives can decide.

Last September, MPs gave a surprise thumbs up to a D66 motion to establish a ‘yes unless’ system for donor organs in the Netherlands, a measure which still has to be approved in the upper house or senate.

The CBS figures show a surge in ‘no’ registrations in September and October, after the bill was passed in the lower house of parliament.

D66 hopes that by establishing an opt-out register, more organs will become available for transplant. ‘The aim of our law is to get people to make a choice,’ the bill’s backer Pia Dijkstra said. ‘A no registration is clear. That makes it a lot easier for relatives and doctors.

Some 1,100 people are currently on the transplant list.