The number of people dying after a fall has quadrupled in the last 20 years, latest figures from statistics agency CBS have shown.

Some 7,000 people died as a result of falling in 2023, 12% as many as the previous year.

Some 43% of people who died within 30 days of a fall were over 80 and 36% were 90 or older. An average of 19 people died of a fall in 2023, with half suffering a broken hip. In a quarter of cases a head injury led to death.

Women were more at risk than men, accounting for 60% of the 80-year-olds who died and 75% in the over-90 age group.

Falls account for the largest number of deaths from non-natural causes in the Netherlands. People with dementia are also more likely to suffer a fall and die as a result.

CBS said the rise in incidences is linked to an increasingly elderly population.