Number of official assisted suicides in Belgium 2002-2023

In 2023, there were 3,423 euthanasia registered in Belgium. The country decriminalized active euthanasia in May 2002. Euthanasia exceeded a thousand yearly cases in Belgium by 2011 and two thousand per year in 2015. As of May 2023, Belgium is one of the only five European countries where active euthanasia is legal, along with the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, and Portugal. Active euthanasia refers to the intentional ending of a person's suffering. A doctor or a third party will, for example, inject a substance directly, resulting in the patient's death. Active euthanasia is opposed to passive euthanasia, which several European countries allow. Passive or indirect euthanasia occurs when the medical team in charge of the patient decides not to take measures to extend life. Finally, assisted suicide, or medically assisted suicide, refers to the act of suicide with the help of a person who provides a means to do so. The means must, however, be taken by the sick person himself; otherwise, it is active euthanasia.

Current legislation on euthanasia in Belgium

From 2002 to 2023, the country registered over 33,000 euthanasia procedures. Legally, a condition for active euthanasia in Belgium is that the illness or injury of a demander must be terminal and that they must be in great physical or mental suffering, with no available treatment to alleviate their distress. The most common illnesses that lead to such a demand are cancers or multiple pathologies. Furthermore, most euthanasia procedures in Belgium took place in the patient’s home in 2023.

Belgium and assisted suicide for minors

In 2014, the Belgian Senate extended the law on euthanasia to terminally ill children with parental consent. Belgium was then the only European country where euthanasia was open to minors. According to the federal commission in charge of evaluating the practice of euthanasia in the country, one minor had been euthanized in 2023. Most cases, however, occur among the 60 to 89 years old population.