Fewer than 100 murders reported in the Netherlands this year, incl. 10 in Amsterdam

With three days to go before the end of the year, a total of 98 victims of murder or manslaughter have been reported in the Netherlands in 2025, according to a review of preliminary data by Leiden University and the Telegraaf. Although preliminary, it marks a substantial decrease from the end of 2024, when police told NL Times that 133 deaths due to violent crimes were investigated that year. Amsterdam was on its way to a 50-percent decrease in murder and manslaughter cases, though remained at the top of all Dutch cities with ten such cases this year.

The national total provisionally puts the intentional homicide rate at approximately 0.54 victims per 100,000 inhabitants for this year, which is lower than figures reported by most European Union countries last year. The prime suspect identified in nearly four-fifths of the cases was someone born in the Netherlands to parents who were also born in the country. There were 21 cases involving a suspect who was born in another country, or whose parents were born elsewhere.

The early figures include 63 male victims and 35 female victims. Sixteen of the women killed were cases of femicide, where the suspect was a current partner, former partner, or a stalker. Those killed in the Netherlands were predominately adults, with six teenagers and four children under the age of ten among the victims. The victims ranged in age from as young as 3 months, and up to 86 years old.

Police alleged the violent deaths were caused by a male suspect in 82 of the cases, or approximately 84 percent. Suspects ranged in age from 13 to 80, and were mainly between 20 and 60 years of age.

Even though the current figure of 98 victims is relatively low, it has not deviated too far from recent totals, according to Leiden University Professor Marieke Liem. She heads up the Dutch Homicide Monitor, and lectures on safety and crime intervention strategies. "In the Netherlands, the number of murder and manslaughter victims has fluctuated between 100 and 130 per year for years," Liem told the Telegraaf.

"It is true that we have seen a decline in recent decades, especially compared to the 1990s, when the number of victims was approximately twice as high." The lowest total number of victims due to murder or manslaughter in the past three decades was 108, a figure reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) for the 2016 calendar year. That was followed by 119 two years later. The highest totals during that period were 264 in 2001, 247 in 2003, and 240 in 1996.

While murder and manslaughter figures have largely trended downward since 1996, the population has also consistently grown. That means a sharper drop in the national murder rate has happened over that period of time. The per capita murder rate stood at 1.55 violent deaths per 100,000 residents of the Netherlands in 1996, and rose to a peak of 1.65 in 2001, but that fell to 0.67 in provisional figures for 2024.

Liem said more research and intervention is needed to address violence against women, and not only cases of femicide, which has been a national topic of conversation particularly after a spate of violent crimes over the summer. "What is striking is that [female victims] are often women over 40, and even 80 years old. This calls for more attention," she said.

The youngest suspect was identified as a 13-year-old boy who stabbed his 13-year-old classmate Joni to death in Schiedam in February. He was convicted sentenced to a year in detention due to his young age. The oldest suspect was Epko F., an 80-year-old man accused of murdering his wife, Ida, in Tynaarlo towards the end of the summer.

While Amsterdam had the most cases of homicide so far this year, the tally of ten victims means less than one violent death per month on average in the capital. That is also a sharp reduction from last year, when 20 such cases were reported in the city. The total number of victims represented half of all cases in Noord-Holland this year.

Rotterdam and The Hague have each had five reported homicides in 2025 to date. The two cities were responsible for ten of the 18 cases of murder or manslaughter in Zuid-Holland this year. The province with the third-highest total number of victims so far is Noord-Brabant, with 14.

Police have also managed to clear nearly all of the 98 cases this year, with three remaining unsolved. Those include the Zaandam murder of 35-year-old drag queen William Caceres Marcano, who died in January, the murder of 23-year-old Maihemuti Yisikandaier, an Uyghur who was killed in Oss, and a 40-year-old Polish man named Pawel who was found dead at his Lelystad residence at the end of September.

Many of the cases of homicide have involved victims and suspects who are already in need of additional attention. "These are victims from the homeless community, with a migration background, addiction problems, or inexplicable behavior," Liem told the Telegraaf. "We see discontent in almost all matricides, but also, for example, in the murder of 11-year-old Sohani in Nieuwegein, who was killed by a disturbed neighbor," she said.

"Murder occurs at all levels of society. If someone has an immigration background, it usually happens within their own social circle. It has to do with addiction problems, disturbed behavior, or revolves around a conflict concerning migrant workers," she said, citing examples.

Figures remain preliminary not only because the New Year begins on Thursday, but also because victims of earlier crimes may not have been found, or because crime statistics have not been updated. Further, the delayed determination of a cause of death can cause statistics to fluctuate.