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Health Canada statistics for 2023 show a significant scale of euthanasia use. A total of 15 300 people used euthanasia services, which is 4,7% of the total number of deaths in the country, daily.afisha.ru reports with reference to the BBC.
The vast majority of patients (96%) who requested euthanasia were predicted to die naturally. The remaining 4% received medical support at the end of life due to severe chronic diseases that do not imply imminent death in the short term.
The average age of people seeking the procedure was 77. The dominant cause was cancer.
Since euthanasia was legalized in Canada in 2016, the number of requests has been steadily increasing. If previously the annual growth rate reached 31%, then in 2023 it decreased to 16%.
Canada is among a small group of countries that have passed laws legalizing euthanasia in the past decade, including Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Austria. Canadian lawmakers are currently considering extending euthanasia rights to patients with mental illness.