86 Dutch drowned last year

A total of 86 residents of the Netherlands drowned in the country last year, the same number as in 2016, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Thursday. This number has been around 80 for years.

The number of drownings in the Netherlands decreased significantly since 1950, when there were over 500 drownings. In total nearly 15 thousand Dutch have drowned since then.

Compared to the 1950s, especially fewer young children drown in the Netherlands. In 1950 there were 266 children up to 10 years that drowned in the Netherlands. In the early 70s there were around 150 a year. In the last decade an average of nine young children drowned per year.

Of the Dutch who drowned between 2013 and 2017, 20 percent had a non-western background. Set against the Dutch population, that means that three times as many people with a non-western background drowned as people with a Dutch background. In all age groups, the number of people with a non-western background that drowned is higher than the number of people with a Dutch background. The difference is highest in the age group 10 to 20 years - six times more teens with a non-western background drowned than teens with a Dutch background.

Last year 22 foreigners also drowned in the Netherlands. Over the past five years 103 foreigners drowned in our country, 20 percent of the total drownings. The victims most often came from Germany (31 percent) and Poland (22 percent).