California has experienced the highest number of yearly assisted suicides on record, with a total of 1,235 deaths in 2025, a 149.49% increase over five years.
Released this week, the California End of Life Option Act 2025 Data Report shows a 10.96% increase in total deaths from assisted suicide compared with the previous year, when there were 1,113 assisted suicides. There was an almost 150% increase in assisted suicides in California in 2025 compared with 2020, when there were 495 assisted suicides.
Under California’s End of Life Option Act, a resident of the state can be provided with life-ending drugs if they are thought to have six months or less to live. Since California made assisted suicide legal in June 2016, a total of 6,758 people have ended their lives this way.
The 1,235 deaths account for 0.438% of all deaths for residents of California in 2025.
Among those who ended their lives by state-assisted suicide, the concerns that contributed to the decision to end their lives were primarily non-medical. These included 84.1% of those who ended their lives saying “loss of dignity”, 96.10% saying being “less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable”, and 94.70% saying “loss of autonomy” were contributing reasons for ending their lives by assisted suicide.
The data for 2025 also shows that in almost half of all cases – 47.4% – it is unknown whether or not there were any complications following the ingestion of the life-ending drugs. In cases where it is known whether an individual experienced complications after ingesting the assisted suicide drugs, the complication rate was 3.38%.
The report states, “Individuals who regained consciousness are not counted as [End of Life Option Act] deaths”, implying there were at least some people who ingested the lethal drugs and did not, in fact, die.
The data for 2025 revealed that, in 30 instances, those who died by assisted suicide decided not to inform their family of their decision to end their life.
85.5% of those who ended their lives in California in 2025 through assisted suicide were white, despite making up only 34.7% of the population according to the most recent census data.
In 380 cases (20.7%), it is unknown whether or not prescribed assisted suicide drugs have been consumed. This includes 154 (8.4%) people who have died, but it is unknown whether they died as a result of ingesting the lethal drugs, and 226 people (12.3%) for whom it is unknown whether they are alive or dead and whether or not they ingested the lethal drugs.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “Released shortly before Second Reading of the assisted suicide Bill in Westminster, these statistics from California should be prescient reading for MPs. They give an indication of what might happen if assisted suicide is made legal here”.
“Shockingly, in almost half of all cases there is simply no information about complications that may have been suffered by people as they end their lives, and as we have seen in other jurisdictions, many of the reasons people give for deciding to end their own life are completely non-medical”.
“It is also the case that, like the law in California, Lauren Edwards’ assisted suicide Bill does not require that family members be informed about their loved one’s assisted suicide. This is a frightening possibility that, sadly, is already a reality in California”.
