Over four million people have indicated that they do not want to be organ donors

Over four million people who have filled out the organ donor registration have said they do not want to be organ donors. Just under five million people responded that they are available as donors. Over 1.5 million people will leave the decision to a loved one.

Statistics Netherlands reported this in collaboration with the Donor Register. Around 10.6 million people had filled in their choice on January 1. In 2020, the year that the donor law came into effect, this number was only 6.9 million. The current donor law states that all residents of the Netherlands aged 18 or older have "no objection to organ donation" if they have not indicated this.

The number of people who gave permission for organ donation has grown by a million since 2020 to exactly 4.8 million. The number of people who did not give permission is currently two million higher than four years ago, at 4.3 million.

"Adults with a non-Dutch background indicated almost twice as often that they did not want to be a donor as adults with a Dutch background," the researchers said.

"People with a non-Dutch background are less likely to be organ donors, which could possibly lead to a shortage in this group. The chance to find a fitting organ that is not rejected by the body is most likely if the organ has come from somebody with the same background," they explain.

Around 49 percent of the population aged 18 or older had made their own choice on January 1, 2020, compared to 72 percent on January 1 of this year.