Swiss assisted suicides rose 11% in 2023

Some 1,252 people opted to end their lives using the euthanasia association Exit in German-speaking Switzerland. Keystone / Martin Ruetschi

Last year, 1,252 people opted to end their lives using the euthanasia association Exit in German-speaking Switzerland.  

This is an 11% increase in assisted suicide compared to 2022. The euthanasia organisation also has almost 20,000 new members. 

+ Is Switzerland a good place for the terminally ill?

At the end of last year, the Exit German Switzerland association had 167,631 members, it announced on Thursday. That is 19,679 more people than in the previous year.  

In addition to the assisted death, 92,000 members also took advantage of the opportunity to deposit their living will. 

The reason for the increase in suicide accompaniment is, among other things, the increasingly aging society with consequent severely debilitating illnesses or disabilities. The average age of the people accompanied was 80.7 years for women and 79 years for men. 

Some 31% of those dying had terminal cancer. More and more elderly people with multiple complaints are also choosing a self-determined death. As in the previous year, more women (759) than men (493) were accompanied to their death. 

According to Exit, three quarters of the assisted suicide accompaniments took place in private rooms, and almost a fifth of the accompaniments took place in retirement and nursing homes. 

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