By Michael Gryboski, Editor Friday, December 05, 2025

• Canada's assisted suicide accounted for over 5% of all deaths in 2024.
• 16,499 individuals ended their lives through medically assisted suicide last year.
• The number of assisted suicides increased by 6.9% compared to 2023.

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Canada saw a record number of citizens end their lives by assisted suicide, with an official report documenting that over 5% of all deaths in the country were as a result of the controversial procedure.

According to a Canadian government report released on Nov. 28, titled “Sixth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada,” 16,499 people ended their lives in 2024 by medically-assisted suicide, officially known as “Medical Assistance in Dying.” 

The 16,499 assisted suicides were among the 22,535 requests for premature death sent to Health Canada. Of the requests that did not result in assisted suicide, 4,017 individuals died of another cause, 1,327 individuals were deemed ineligible for the procedure, and 692 individuals withdrew their requests.

The government report notes that medically-assisted suicides accounted for 5.1% of all deaths in Canada last year, and saw a slight increase (0.4%) from the percentage of MAID deaths in 2023. It is the highest number of MAID deaths since Canada legalized assisted suicide in 2016.

Additionally, the 2024 total represents a 6.9% increase in assisted suicides compared to 2023, when 15,427 medically-assisted suicides were carried out.

2024 also had the highest number of MAID requests under Track 2 conditions, which apply to individuals who did not expect to die in the immediate future. Track 2 was officially introduced in 2021.

There were 732 Track 2 medically-assisted suicides in 2024, making up 4.4% of all MAID deaths last year. The total for Track 2 deaths has been on the rise, with 224 in 2021, 469 in 2022, and 625 in 2023.

In 2016, Canada passed a law legalizing physician-assisted suicide, with the law initially restricting access to citizens or permanent residents who were at least 18 years old and had “a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability” that included “enduring and intolerable suffering.”

The 2016 law also required medical approval, a 15-day waiting period, and that two witnesses be present when a patient signed an official request for medically-assisted suicide.

In 2021, Canada passed a bill that expanded the law to allow for physician-assisted suicide in cases where an individual does not have a terminal illness, such as those suffering from chronic pain.

Parliament also opened the possibility of allowing for medically-assisted suicide in cases of mental illness; however, that expansion is not expected to take effect until March 2027.

The expansion received much criticism, including an April report by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which said it was “extremely concerned” about the law.

The U.N. also called on Canada to “repeal the Track 2 medical assistance in dying provision, including the provision to, in 2027, Track 2 for persons whose ‘sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness.’”

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/canada-assisted-suicide-increases-5-percent-of-all-deaths-report.html