The number of reports of online child pornography made to a Dutch hotline soared to 35,000 last year, up from 25,000 in 2015.

Staff at the Meldpunt Kinderporno hotline checked 100,000 photographs, videos and websites, a rise of 60% on a year ago.

Director Arda Gerkens told broadcaster NOS there has been a rise in the amount of child porn circulating online and this is partly behind the rise in reports. At the same time, more needs to be spent on investigating and combating child porn, she said.

‘If we want to make sure that the Netherlands moves down in the list of countries hosting child porn, we need more investment,’ she said.

Almost 70% of the material submitted to the centre is illegal and is passed to the police for further investigation. Some 80% is hosted on Dutch servers.