As the debate around assisted dying continues in Ireland, Belgium has experienced a significant increase in euthanasia deaths over the last five years, according to a report from the Federal Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia. Key findings include:
✽ Euthanasia accounted for 4 per cent of all deaths in Belgium in 2025, up from 1.9 per cent in 2020.
✽ Euthanasia deaths increased from 2,445 in 2020 to 4,487 in 2025.
✽ Non-terminal cases increased to 1,117 people whose natural death was not expected in the short term in 2025, compared with 311 in 2020. People who ended their lives when death was not expected included people with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and blindness.
✽ The report recorded 77 cases involving dementia and 74 involving psychiatric disorders in 2025.
✽ Two people under 18 underwent euthanasia across 2024 and 2025, one in each year.
✽ The report also identified cases involving advance directives, people experiencing “weariness of living”, and 13 couples who underwent euthanasia together.
Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan, Chief Executive of Right to Life UK, a charity that opposes the introduction of assisted suicide and euthanasia and campaigns instead for greater investment in palliative care, said: “It is deeply alarming that in just five years, euthanasia deaths as a proportion of total deaths in Belgium have more than doubled. Sadly, Belgium is following a pattern observed in so many jurisdictions where the numbers increase year-on-year.
“It is worrying that such large increases in the number of people ending their lives in this manner have happened, especially for individuals with certain conditions – a 250 per cent increase in the number of people with dementia ending their lives by euthanasia in only seven years is deeply disturbing. People suffering from mental or physical health conditions deserve protection and the best possible care, not a pathway to suicide.”
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