The Netherlands now has a 170,000 strong national network of people who are able to perform CPR, Nu.nl reports

According to heart charity Hartstichting, the Netherlands is the first country in the world to have a near-complete coverage of registered citizens who can be called upon to perform CPR in their region, the news platform writes.

The charity claims that the number of volunteers means that people who have heart attacks outside of a hospital will be more likely to be given the life-saving treatment within six minutes, which is the window in which patients have the best chance of survival.

Some three hundred people a week suffer a heart attack outside a hospital environment. Survival rates have gone up from 9% in the Nineties to 25% in recent years. If the six minute zone works properly some 2,500 lives a year could be saved, NU.nl quotes the charity as saying.