More Dutch object to organ donation

The number of Dutch people who object to organ donation increased from 1.7 million in 2017 to 1.9 million this year, Statistics Netherlands reported on Thursday. The number of people who gave consent to have their organs donated after death also increased, from 3.6 million to 3.7 million.

Some 700 thousand people decided to leave the decision of organ donation up to their next of kin.

In total over 6.3 million people over the age of 12 are now registered on the organ donation bank, either as 'yes I want to donate, 'no I don't', or 'leave it up to the family'. That amounts to 42 percent of the Dutch population.

The Netherlands' new organ donation law will be implemented in the summer of 2020. Under the new law, all adults registered with a Dutch municipality will automatically be registered as "no objection to organ donation". This can be changed at any time, and the family will still have a say after a person's death. The choices already recorded in the registry will remain as they are.